Professor Ike Levine’s new class at the University of Southern Maine’s Lewiston-Auburn College this fall – “Marijuana – Hemp, Hype, Hope and High” – will be purely academic. Mostly.
“It’s not going to be a primer for people on how to grow pot. It’s not all about that,” Levine said. “It’s a little bit about that.”
And don’t expect any show-and-tell. Mostly.
“You can’t do medical (marijuana) or any marijuana research unless you have a special license from the feds,” Levine said. “Being that I don’t have that special license and not wanting to risk all my other grant dollars, let’s just say this: There will be no sampling on campus. There can be field trips. I’ll just leave it at that.”
The three-credit course, SCI 299, will focus on the science, history, use and modern legal issues surrounding marijuana. Levine, a professor of natural and applied sciences – he’s best known for his algae research – had wanted to do a pot lecture and lab years ago when Maine first legalized medical marijuana, but university officials wouldn’t approve the lab component because the drug wasn’t allowed on campus.
Levine scrapped his plans. Then Maine voters agreed in 2016 to legalize recreational marijuana. [Read more at Portland Press Herald]
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