A community college in northern New Brunswick is offering a course in horticulture to teach students the skills necessary for work in the growing industry of marijuana cultivation. 

The College communautaire du Nouveau-Brunswick in Bathurst will began offering the course next year. Michel Doucet, the college's executive director of continuing education and customized learning, says the cultivation course was designed in collaboration with industry leaders to train skilled workers capable of working in the highly regulated medical marijuana industry.

Denis Arsenault is CEO of Moncton-based marijuana company OrganiGram. He says he's looking forward to collaboration on a program that focuses on marijuana horticulture.

Organigram/Facebook
Organigram/Facebook
loading...

Kevin Coft is CEO of International Herbs Medical Marijuana Ltd, which operates the Athoville-based medical marijuana company Zenabis. He says producers across Canada have found it difficult to hire qualified, educated workers who can keep up with the evolving and quickly growing industry.

Coft says Zenabis and two other producers licensed in New Brunswick collaborated with College communautaire du Nouveau-Brunswick and the Canadian National Medical Marijuana Association on a curriculum based on a British Columbia program that offers apprenticeships and both broad and specialized marijuana horticulture training and education.

The New Brunswick government has thus far put up about $5 million in start-up funding for medical marijuana companies, based on their promises of creating jobs within the province.

More From