One Florida man is giving "higher education" a new meaning, ABC Action News reported.
While Florida voters wait until November to decide whether medical marijuana should be legal in the state, Jeremy Bufford is hoping to educate them about the drug through Medical Marijuana Tampa, a first-of-its-kind "Marijuana University," ABC Action News reported.
"Let's bring this medicine out of the darkness and into the light," Bufford, founder of Marijuana University, told ABC Action News. "We're doing something innovative, [it is] education oriented. We're not trying to set up a shop where we're selling drugs. We're trying to educate people."
The course on medical marijuana shows participants the ins and outs of the industry.
"We're teaching this class to introduce cannabis from a legal, a historical, a botanical, and a pharmacological perspective," Bufford said. "I've brought in experts that are far more informed about the product than I am."
Professors from California, marijuana growers from Michigan will participate in the initiative.
"I'm putting together a brain trust. The smartest, the best and the brightest to lead our organization into the future," he said.
If medical marijuana is approved in the state, Medical Marijuana Tampa plans to open five classrooms across Tampa Bay, 15 treatment centers, and one laboratory, ABC Action News reported.
"We do know according to the language that we'll be able to cultivate and we'll be able to procure that medicine on behalf of our patients," Bufford said. The cultivated marijuana will then be distributed from their treatment centers.
Bufford only has one class and is currently looking for private investors to help bring in $10 million to help in operating costs and future growth.
"We want very much to be the first mover in the industry," he said.
Bufford is optimistic voters in Florida will approve of come November, ABC Action News reported.
Classes will take place at the former Garcia Y. Cigar Factory located at 3104 N. Armenia Avenue, Suite 2.
