Brown University announced Tuesday that it will once again require students to submit standardized-test scores as part of their applications. The news follows similar announcements from Dartmouth College and Yale University last month.
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Roanoke College Professor DorothyBelle “DB” Poli typically teaches biology and plant physiology, but she also leads a seminar for freshmen on sex and drugs in music — often influenced by cannabis.
So when the faculty at the 2,000-student school sat down to talk about potential degree programs related to wellness and social policy, cannabis seemed like a logical step.
“The more we looked at it, the more we realized it was a good idea,” Professor Poli told MarketWatch. “College students love this topic. There’s also jobs everywhere for people with skills.”
As a specialist in science and culture, Professor Poli is helping the school become the first institution of higher learning in Virginia to offer a four-year degree in cannabis studies.
The faculty at Roanoke College has OK’d the creation of the program with two potential Bachelor of Science degrees, one in the science of cannabis and the other focusing on social justice and policy.
It’s one of a growing number of cannabis-focused career and educational programs not only at trade schools but also at colleges and other higher learning centers.
At last check, 24 states have allowed adult-use cannabis sales, with more expected. Florida voters may decide a ballot question on the matter in November. Pennsylvania Gov. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro has included adult-use pot in his latest budget proposal to the state legislature as a way to generate an estimated $250 million in taxes.
The combined U.S. medical- and recreational-cannabis market was expected to approach sales of nearly $34 billion in 2023, and increase to $53.5 billion by 2027, according to MJBiz estimates.
With this growth, an estimated 1 million jobs in the legal cannabis business are expected to open up in the next few years as more states roll out cannabis programs.
At last check, the legal cannabis business employed 417,493 people, according to the 2023 Vangst Jobs Report. The figure fell 2% from 2022 after a decade of growth, as the industry paused new hiring amid market challenges in more mature states and bumpy start-ups in other states.
California led the pack with 83,593 jobs, followed by 35,405 for Michigan, 29,925 for Illinois, 29,011 in Florida, which is a medical-only state, and 28,370 for Massachusetts.
“A confluence of factors — global inflation, rising interest rates, cooling investor enthusiasm, depressed wholesale cannabis prices, and a shift in post-pandemic consumer demand — challenged the legal industry’s
unrelenting growth,” the report said.
Cannabis-cultivation jobs comprise 31% of the total employment pie, while retail jobs make up 23% of all cannabis positions as the two largest components. Ancillary jobs such as general counsel and marketing, which don’t involve plant-touching, comprise 20%.
A director of cultivation typically makes $100,000 to $150,00 a year, while a retail director makes $100,000 to $130,000 and a general counsel earns up to $225,000, according to the Vangst report.
On the low end, bud tenders make $17 to $28 per hour and trimmers earn $16 to $20 an hour.
Also read: Cannabis stocks gain as Pennsylvania governor prioritizes legalizing adult-use pot
Michael (Mike Z) Zaytsev, a cannabis entrepreneur and academic director since 2022 at New York City’s LIM College, said he knows of 20-to-40 schools and programs now offering cannabis degree programs or cannabis minors. Those offerings range from associate degrees to bachelor’s to master’s degree programs. Zaytsev said there’s no official tabulation of cannabis educational programs offered in many states.
Some studies focus on agriculture and horticulture, while others hone in on science and medical, while others teach aspects of cannabis business.
The University of Maryland’s M.S. in Cannabis Science and Therapeutics is one well-established program, he said. Other widely known training programs are offered by Green Flower and SeedCrest.
Also read: MedMen goes from height of $3 billion valuation to zero as stock draws cease-trade order and top execs leave
In California, which has had an adult-use program for about a decade, Oaksterdam University describes itself as the first cannabis college. The story of Oaksterdam and its founders’ role in California’s legal cannabis movement is told in the 2023 documentary, “American Pot Story: Oaksterdam.”
For his part, Zaytsev helps run undergraduate programs for about 100 students now enrolled at LIM College, founded in 1939 and formerly known as Laboratory Institute of Merchandising.
In 2022, LIM was the first college in the U.S. to offer a master’s of public service (MPS) degree in cannabis after it was approved by the New York State Education Department. LIM also offers a cannabis-based Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) degree — a first in the United States — and will graduate its first class in 2026.
LIM students often pursue a combination of a business of fashion major with cannabis minor or cannabis major with a fashion minor, he said.
“My students have been very interested and highly engaged,” Zaytsev said. “A few have even told me that the only reason they went to college was because they discovered that it was possible to major in the business of cannabis.”
To be sure, the cannabis business continues to face growing pains such as oversupply and layoffs in more established markets, as well as competition from illicit sellers in newer markets such as New York State.
As in any industry, there’s a potential for unscrupulous employers and managers who mistreat their workers.
It’s a challenge for schools to set up programs given that cannabis remains a Schedule I substance under federal law, and colleges must contend with regulations and marketing restrictions, as well as educating people internally about cannabis to overcome nearly 100 years of cannabis prohibition, he said.
For Roanoke College’s Poli, cannabis courses present an opportunity for Virginia to return to its pre-prohibition roots as a major hemp state dating back to 1619, when the first House of Burgesses required all planters in the state to sow the crop for rope, cloth and other uses. Thomas Jefferson and George Washington both grew hemp on their farms, but historians have said it’s doubtful if they smoked the flower, which contains THC.
For now, Roanoke College has no projections on class size for its new cannabis programs, but Poli said she’s already getting indications of interest.
“In the last 24 hours, I’ve gotten 10 emails from students,” she said.
Also read: New York cannabis farmers may have to throw away 250,000 pounds of product due to retail-store bottleneck
Bud Light’s marketing blunder is changing the beer industry landscape. According to “Shark Tank” star Kevin O’Leary, the impact is so unprecedented that he’s pumped to teach the case to business school students.
“It’s such an incredible story that it’s becoming what’s called a chestnut case in business schools,” O’Leary said in a recent interview with Fox Business.
“Beer is a commodity, the only thing of value is the brand you spent hundreds of millions creating and then to actually lose 25% market share in six weeks has never been achieved in the history of the beer business in America,” he said.
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In April, Bud Light partnered with transgender social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney. While Mulvaney boasts 10.7 million followers on TikTok, the collaboration triggered a backlash on social media and led some beer drinkers to boycott Bud Light.
According to consulting company Bump Williams, using data from NielsenIQ, Bud Light is no longer America’s best-selling beer. The top spot now belongs to Modelo Especial, distributed in the U.S. by Constellation Brands Inc. (NYSE: STZ).
A Chestnut Case
According to O’Leary, Bud Light’s case study reveals the growing importance of managing social media at the corporate level.
He said that traditionally, corporations’ risk committees focused on areas like compensation and compliance. However, in light of what’s been happening to Bud Light, companies are now “contemplating risk committees around social media” so that someone at the board level can oversee “what and what not to say.”
O’Leary then explained exactly what went wrong at what was once America’s favorite beer brand.
“For consumer goods and services, particularly around beer, to say let’s get involved in educating our beer drinkers about gender identity, that did not work in an unprecedented way — unprecedented losses of market cap and value and market share.”
Investors in Anheuser-Busch InBev (NYSE: BUD), the multinational brewing company behind Bud Light, have been hit. Since April 1, when Mulvaney first promoted the beer on social media, the New York Stock Exchange-listed BUD stock has tumbled about 15%, resulting in the loss of billions of dollars of market cap.
Apparently, students are fascinated by the case.
“I’m licking my chops to teach this case,” O’Leary added. “I’ve tried it twice now. The class lights up like I’ve never seen before.”
Will Bud Light Make A Comeback?
According to Anheuser-Busch’s latest earnings report, the company’s U.S. revenue fell 10.5% year over year in the second quarter.
In the first half of this year, Anheuser-Busch’s sales to wholesalers in the U.S. decreased by 8.5%, while sales to retailers dropped by 9.2%. The company said that its underperformance in the industry was “primarily due to the volume decline of Bud Light.”
But it’s not all bad news. In the second quarter, the beer company’s global revenue increased 7.2% year over year.
In the earnings conference call, CEO Michel Doukeris said that while the company’s market share in the U.S. declined in the second quarter, “it has been stable since the last week of April through the end of June.”
O’Leary’s Investment Strategy
As a “Shark Tank” star, O’Leary has invested plenty in startups. But he’s also an advocate for investing in dividend stocks.
“Over the last 40 years, 71% of the stock market’s return came from dividends, not capital appreciation,” he said in a Forbes interview. “So Rule 1 for me is I’ll never own stuff that doesn’t pay a dividend. Ever.”
Dividends can be a source of passive income for investors. But it’s important to remember that dividend stocks can still fluctuate.
Anheuser-Busch InBev is a large-cap, dividend-paying company, and its shares have been volatile.
If you don’t like that kind of volatility, you might want to look into reliable income plays outside the stock market — such as investing in rental properties with as little as $100 while staying completely hands-off.
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This article ‘I’m Licking My Chops To Teach This Case’: Kevin O’Leary Calls Bud Light’s Marketing Gaffe A ‘Chestnut Case In Business Schools.’ Will The Battered Beer Brand Make A Comeback? originally appeared on Benzinga.com
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