SAN FRANCISCO— The City College of San Francisco announced Thursday, July 23rd, plans to introduce a Cannabis Studies program this upcoming school year. A two-year associate degree will be offered in the field. The courses will focus on the influence of cannabis on human behavior pertaining to race, gender, and policing, among other topics. The degree means to extend upon individual classes such as Cannabis 101 that already exist within the school’s curriculum.

Students must take three required courses; Introduction to Cannabis, Anthropology of Cannabis, and Psychology of Psychoactive Drugs, and four electives to attain their associate degree. Professor Blayke Barker will teach Introduction of Cannabis Studies for the coming sememster. “I look at social inequities and how does legalization change that conversation,” explained Barker.

Jennifer Dawgert Carlin, Chair of the Behavioral Sciences Department, and head of the program says, “You could use this degree to then go to a four-year institution and study something like public policy, sociology, anthropology, public health with this as your specialized area. San Francisco is the absolute place where we need to be doing all kinds of work around cannabis.”

The Cannabis Studies coursework consists of homework, research projects, and a final exam.