As the marijuana industry buds in New Jersey, Raritan Valley Community College is offering a new program designed to fill a void in an emerging workforce.
The Medical Cannabis Dispensary Technician program is the first non-credit medical marijuana program run by professionals and academia at a New Jersey college or university, said Joananne Coffaro, director of the RVCC Workforce Training Center overseeing the certificate program.
While efforts to legalize the recreational use of marijuana during the past legislative session were unsuccessful, its medical use currently is legal in New Jersey. Lawmakers in both houses in December passed a cannabis referendum bill putting recreational use on the 2020 November ballot.
"Since the medical bill that was passed over the summer creates a regulatory body – the Cannabis Regulatory Commission or 'CRC' – that is tasked with promulgation of rules and monitoring of the medical cannabis industry in New Jersey, if the ballot initiative does pass, New Jersey should be well poised to regulate the recreational cannabis industry," said course leader Sarah Trent, CEO of Valley Wellness, a medical dispensary that could soon be coming soon to the Garden State.