Cannabis course at Northern New Mexico College growing in popularity

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.- Northern New Mexico College is preparing people to get into the marijuana industry.

Shanon Jaramillo, CEO and founder of SeedCrest LLC, a software company specializing in cannabis education, is working with the college on the cannabis establishment technician course.

The second course begins Monday.

Approximately 200 people have signed up for the course. The first course had about 40 students.

"So what makes this course different from last semester at Northern is these students will get the updates as we go, and every semester we will update them," Jaramillo said.

Rick bailey, the president of Northern New Mexico College, said they’ve had more than 1,200 inquires about the course.

"We’re over the moon. It’s really exciting. I think the thing that we’re really proud of is we said early on, we didn’t want the state and communities to have to wait for us," Bailey said. " We started this process about two years ago to look at, ‘OK, what are the things we need to put in place.’"

Jaramillo said the course will evolve over the next year, not just in curriculum but beyond the basic 40 hours.

"The intro to cannabis and the basics of cannabis biology teaches you how to get a jump start in growing. That’s fundamental," she said. "From there, the instructors are creating the next pieces."

Jaramillo is looking for more opportunities at other New Mexico colleges.

"The more we can enable these colleges and activate them, the more New Mexicans can win, and in our hearts and minds, we’re breaking the stigma through education," she said. "So it aligns with our goal, were providing bridges to the industry, and we’re also creating equity so that people have resources. The next piece is scholarships.