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Oaksterdam Interview: Tamika McPhail Helps Build Connecticut Cannabis Equity with reSET

Oaksterdam Interview: Tamika McPhail Helps Build Connecticut Cannabis Equity with reSET

For over 20 years, Tamika McPhail has been a leader in advocacy and cannabis. As the Connecticut State Director for Minorities For Medical Marijuana and a graduate of the Black Cannabis Business Mastermind, she most recently added Program Manager for the Connecticut Social Equity Cannabis Business Accelerator, powered by Oaksterdam University, to her resumé. 

Tamika’s goals are to help social equity licensees successfully open the doors to their cannabis businesses and be a resource to the Connecticut cannabis community. 

We caught up with Tamika to learn more about what brought her to cannabis advocacy and social equity.

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The Evolution of Cannabis Consulting with Goose Duarte

The Evolution of Cannabis Consulting with Goose Duarte

Goose Duarte has worked at the forefront of the legal cannabis industry since its emergence in the San Francisco Bay Area in the early 2000s. He has helped define the role of a budtender in the world’s pioneering dispensaries. Today he is the director of operations at Oaksterdam University. 

Goose worked in almost every position at Harborside Health Center in Oakland, from inventory, stocking, product displays, check-in and registration, budtender, and management.

Here, he shares Harborside’s six-step consultation and sale process …

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Alumni Spotlight: Perry Jones

Alumni Spotlight: Perry Jones

As communities across the country build equity programs into cannabis law, Oaksterdam Alumni Perry Jones shines as a beacon of success.

Perry has gone through San Francisco’s Cannabis Equity Program and is well on his way to opening a dispensary in his community.

To bring his business to life, he has partnered with MMD Incorporated, a leader in providing safe, legal cannabis to customers through four retail dispensaries in Los Angeles. Their partnership will bring MMD’s first storefront to Northern California, with Jones as Co-Owner and CEO.

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20 Best Conferences for New Cannabis Business Entrepreneurs

20 Best Conferences for New Cannabis Business Entrepreneurs

Cannabis conferences are one of the most helpful resources out there for new cannapreneurs and more seasoned cannabis professionals alike. There are conferences of all sizes geared toward every niche of the cannabis industry and hosted worldwide — so keeping track of...

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Puff, Puff, Pass: February Cannabis News

Puff, Puff, Pass: February Cannabis News

The cannabis industry is constantly evolving and growing, with new developments happening all the time.

From Twitter welcoming cannabis ads to ‘diet weed’ and Dale Sky Jones being named to Cannabis Now’s Hall of Fame, here’s a look at recent industry items in the news …

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A Look Back at Mary Jane “Brownie Mary” Rathbun

A Look Back at Mary Jane “Brownie Mary” Rathbun

Claire Birch was a Berkeley, California-based documentarian who followed much of the early movement toward medical cannabis laws in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Click here for rare footage of Brownie Mary passionately describing her work and why she does it, as well as a contextual interview about her with Dennis Peron.

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Grow Mag Q&A With Mr. and Mrs. Jones

Grow Mag Q&A With Mr. and Mrs. Jones

Dale Sky Jones and Jeff Jones have been referred to as the “First Couple of Cannabis.” Dale is the Executive Chancellor of Oaksterdam University and Jeff is on OU’s Horticulture Faculty.

Recently, Mr. and Mrs. Jones did an extensive Q&A in Grow Magazine with Writer and Cultivator A.C. Moon. They talked about everything from their first interactions with the plant to where they see the future of the industry. They also discussed whether cannabis makes them better parents, PTSD from persecution, and policies they’d like to see enacted at the federal level along with much, much more …

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“American Pot Story: Oaksterdam” Wins Audience Choice Award

“American Pot Story: Oaksterdam” Wins Audience Choice Award

New Love Films and Oaksterdam University are proud to announce the feature documentary American Pot Story: Oaksterdam took home the prestigious ”Unstoppable” Audience Award on Jan. 26, 2023, after its world premiere at the Slamdance Film Festival, Jan. 20-26 in Park City and Salt Lake City, Utah.

Part of the festival’s annual Sparky Awards, the Audience Awards are among the most coveted because they are voted on by Slamdance attendees, reflecting fan favorites and setting the stage for future film festival appearances and commercial success.

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Are All Weed Colleges and Cannabis Certifications the Same?

Are All Weed Colleges and Cannabis Certifications the Same?

Adult-use cannabis is a massive market that will continue to grow over the next decade. The industry's growth means more job opportunities and career paths for individuals ready to fill those roles. One of the best ways to prepare for a job in the cannabis industry is...

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Hall of Fame: Dale Sky Jones

Hall of Fame: Dale Sky Jones

Oaksterdam University Chancellor Dale Sky Jones was named to Cannabis Now’s 2023 Mount Rushmore of Cannabis Legends Hall of Fame.

The Hall of Fame appears in the magazine’s print edition, and highlights luminaries that shape the cannabis industry.

The 2023 Mount Rushmore edition recognizes cannabis giants like Willie Nelson, Snoop Dogg, Tommy Chong, Ed Rosenthal. and Steve DeAngelo.

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“American Pot Story: Oaksterdam” Wins Audience Choice Award

“American Pot Story: Oaksterdam” World Premiere at Slamdance 2023

You’re invited to the world premiere of the documentary American Pot Story: Oaksterdam at the world-famous Slamdance Film Festival in Utah.

OU Executive Chancellor Dale Sky Jones and OU Faculty Jeff Jones will be in attendance at the screenings.

There will be a panel discussion with LEAP’s Diane Goldstein and Weldon Angelos and an after-party hosted by TRUCE Utah and Dragonfly Wellness.

Come out and celebrate a momentous occasion with us if you are in the area!

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Jeff Jones and the Origins of “Budtending”

Jeff Jones and the Origins of “Budtending”

The history of the modern dispensary and much of its associated terminology can be traced to the Bay Area, where a group of advocates began to openly distribute medical marijuana in the late 1980s.

At that time, Dennis Peron and “Brownie Mary” Jane Rathbun made national headlines by openly providing cannabis to AIDS patients in San Francisco. A young Jeff Jones saw them on CNN from his home in South Dakota and was inspired to move west to be a part of it.

Read more about the movement in this excerpt from The Budtender’s Guide, Oaksterdam’s new book for dispendary professionals and cannabis consumers.

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OU Featured in Thrillist

OU Featured in Thrillist

With adult use cannabis now legal in 21 states plus Washington, D.C., it’s high time to visit Oaksterdam University. So says an article that appeared in Thrillist on Jan. 6, 2023.

The article shares all the details on OU, from classes to price points and more.

In addition, it features two of our esteemed alumni, Tahir Johnson, who hosts the podcast the Cannabis Diversity Report and is set to open a dispensary Simply Pure Trenton in the spring, and Alphonso “Tucky” Blunt, Jr., owner of dispensary Blunts & Moore.

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Cannabis Myths: Sativa-Indica Fallacy

Cannabis Myths: Sativa-Indica Fallacy

The narrative handed down for generations is that “sativa” varieties are associated with more awake, “caffeine-like” effects that make them ideal to consume during the day, whereas indica products tend to be associated with a full-body high and so-called “couchlock effects” that make them more appropriate to consume in the evening.

Nonetheless, modern analytical testing of so-called true indica versus true sativa varieties identifies few differences in the plants’ analytical makeup and none responsible for these supposed disparate effects. In 2018, cannabinoid scientist Robert McPartland concluded, “Categorizing cannabis as either ‘sativa’ or ‘indica’ has become an exercise in futility. … Ubiquitous interbreeding and hybridization render their distinction meaningless.”

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2022 Hit List: OU’s Top 10 Rewind

2022 Hit List: OU’s Top 10 Rewind

This past year, Oaksterdam University marked a huge milestone: our 15th anniversary! We’re proud to be America’s first cannabis college, still going strong, and fresher than ever. As we wrap up 2022, we want to share some of your alma mater’s achievements. Kick back and read on for our hit list from the past year.

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CT Social Equity Council Selects OU

CT Social Equity Council Selects OU

Connecticut’s Social Equity Council (SEC) has selected Oaksterdam University in partnership with reSET, the social impact-focused entrepreneurial support organization based in Hartford, to create and operate a Cannabis Business Accelerator Program in Connecticut.

Technical business assistance and entrepreneurial support are now available through the program to legacy cannabis operators to ensure regulatory compliance and industry best practices, as well as to verified social equity applicants planning to start licensed cannabis businesses. Programming and early networking opportunities will begin this month, with the official launch of the program in January 2023.

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CT Social Equity Council Selects OU

How Do I Learn About Equity in the Cannabis Industry?

Regulated cannabis is an exciting new industry, brimming with opportunity. However, because of the long, fraught legal history of cannabis in the United States, ensuring this promising field is available and accessible to all is of utmost importance.   As this...

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Why Cannabis Professionals Need Continued Education

Why Cannabis Professionals Need Continued Education

The new year brings a new opportunity to develop your skills. Oaksterdam University’s Business of Cannabis Semester begins Jan. 9, 2023 and is enrolling now. The live course features a capstone project that has students create a business plan lite with guidance and feedback from our expert faculty. We only offer this program once a year, and seats are filling fast.

In 2021, America’s legal cannabis industry added 107,000 jobs, or an average of 280 new jobs daily. It was the fifth year of job growth at 27% or more — the highest industry rate in the nation.

Jobs are available in cannabis businesses, classified as plant-touching, or ancillary businesses, which provide services or products that support the cannabis industry without directly touching the plant.

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Announcing: OU Budtender’s Guide

Announcing: OU Budtender’s Guide

Just in time for holiday shopping, Oaksterdam University has released The Budtender’s Guide: A Reference Manual for Cannabis Consumers and Dispensary Professionals for pre-sale on Amazon.com.

The book is designed to give both budtenders and consumers the knowledge they need to understand the landscape of cannabis products available in licit markets across the country, along with the history, laws and policies, science, and cultural nuances of the plant.

The book is available now as a Kindle digital download on the Amazon store, priced at $9.99.

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