I was looking through the East Bay Express and came across a story they picked up from the Associated Press.

Welcome to Oaksterdam University, a new trade school where higher education takes on a whole new meaning.

The school prepares people for jobs in California’s thriving medical marijuana industry. For $200 and the cost of two required textbooks, students learn how to cultivate and cook with cannabis, study which strains of pot are best for certain ailments, and are instructed in the legalities of a business that is against the law in the eyes of the federal government.

I don’t think this is a good idea, it is teaching people how to run an illegal business. I already covered the take downs of some pot shops and brought up some legal questions last year.

It should be noted this thriving industry recently lost a quarter of its shops in San Francisco do to legal concerns. There is some information from an article in last month’s San Francisco Chronicle.

In late December, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration sent letters to landlords of buildings that housed medical cannabis dispensaries in the city, telling them they face the loss of their property and possibly prison if the businesses stay open.

[As of early February], seven of the city’s 28 dispensaries have closed or are on the verge of closing, according to medical marijuana supporters and activists. They fear more will follow.

If laws are important enough to be on the books on the federal level, they need to be enforced. Then they can be challenged in court and overturned if they should be.