美国国家公共电台 NPR You Can Get A Master's In Medical Cannabis In Maryland（在线收听）

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Medical marijuana is now legal in almost three dozen states, and it's become a growing source of tax revenue and employment. But for all the job opportunities medical marijuana can offer, there really hasn't been any formal training or academic credential for it until now. The University of Maryland recently launched a master's program in cannabis science. Officials hope it will train students to step into a growing marijuana industry. Martin Austermuhle for member station WAMU has this report.

MARTIN AUSTERMUHLE, BYLINE: Before she heads off to work in downtown Washington every morning, Summer Kriegshauser (ph) sneaks in a bit of classwork for a graduate degree she's pursuing.

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AUSTERMUHLE: Master's degrees are a dime a dozen in the nation's capital, but what sets Kriegshauser's apart is the subject matter - marijuana, or cannabis, as it's more formally known.

SUMMER KRIEGSHAUSER: I've been really interested in learning about medical cannabis, and I've been searching for quite some time for any sort of education on this. And I really couldn't find any formal, legitimate academic program.

AUSTERMUHLE: But one legitimate academic program has come along. The University of Maryland created an online master's program in cannabis science and therapeutics, and Kriegshauser is part of the inaugural class of 150 students. They started classes in August in what university officials say is the first program of its kind in the country. Dr. Leah Sera is the program's director. She says the university created the master's in marijuana because of how quickly the industry has expanded, including in Maryland, where sales of medical marijuana started two years ago. There are now more than 80,000 patients in the state's program.

LEAH SERA: Health professionals want more education because patients are coming to them with questions about cannabis and therapeutic uses.

AUSTERMUHLE: For Kriegshauser, Maryland's new program offers her a chance to enter the industry at a higher level.

KRIEGSHAUSER: I didn't want to quit my really great job and work at a dispensary making, you know, $12 or $14 an hour learning or think I was learning about cannabis that way.

AUSTERMUHLE: But one challenge the students face is that there's not a lot of research or data out there on what marijuana does to the body. That's because it remains illegal on the federal level, limiting how much researchers and scientists can learn about the drug. Staci Gruber teaches at the Harvard Medical School and is leading one of the country's most ambitious research projects on medical marijuana at the McLean Hospital in Boston. She says Maryland's program is proof that as medical marijuana becomes ever more present, more research on its effects will be needed.

STACI GRUBER: The fact that a program like this now exists, which I know some say, oh, it's just a moneymaker for the institution, but it's because people are asking for it. People are interested in learning more and in knowing more. So it sort of underscores the need to have more data.

AUSTERMUHLE: Leah Sera, the program's director, says it will evolve as more research on marijuana comes out. But even with the limited research there is out there already, university officials say demand for the program was high. When they announced it over the summer, they got more than 500 applications for 50 seats. They ended up tripling enrollment and say that the inaugural class has students from 32 states and D.C., as well as Hong Kong and Australia. Summer Kriegshauser admits that she's still nervous being part of the University of Maryland's first class for the marijuana master's. There's no certainty that there'll be a job at the end of the program, and legal recreational marijuana could sweep medical programs aside. But she's still confident that she made the right call.

KRIEGSHAUSER: We could have a new president in two years. Additional states could pass other cannabis laws. This means there could be more expansive job opportunities. So to have this knowledge, I think, sets me up for a really good place even though I'm not 100% sure of my career path right now.

AUSTERMUHLE: But for the time being, she's just focused on hitting the books and passing her classes. For NPR News in Washington, I'm Martin Austermuhle.