Ole Miss to offer medical marijuana master's degree. Here's what to know

Ole Miss' history in the medical marijuana field dates back to 1960s when the university began researching the subject and built a cannabis growing facility. Now, the university is advancing that history by adding a master's program focused on medical cannabis and dietary supplements.

The two-year online program under the School of Pharmacy opens fall 2024 and will be split between learning about two industries — dietary supplements and medical marijuana, both of which are currently on the rise of use in the United States.

David Colby, director of online graduate programs in the biomedical sciences department, said the medical cannabis and dietary supplements master's program will be unique in the nation.

"The purpose is to provide advanced training for people who are seeking employment or want to advance their current jobs in dietary supplements, which could be herbal products or medical cannabis," Colby said.

While it will overlap in some ways with other programs in the nation, the program at Ole Miss will center more on training students to design products rather than teaching people how to use cannabis products. It won't necessarily focus on diseases and treatment.

"We're more focused on providing the skills for people to be successful in the industry," Colby said.

The program will follow the expertise found in the University of Mississippi, Colby said.

"We're a national leader in dietary supplements and medical cannabis," Colby said. "And now we're going to fully build a curriculum across our university to serve our students."

The program will operate separate from the growing facility on campus and will focus on educating and training those entering industry positions to be effective in their roles. In addition to students beginning their careers, this program is designed for those already in the dietary supplements or medical cannabis industries who want to advance their careers.

"Since it's entirely online, we do expect that we will have students that are partially or fully employed, particularly maybe even already fully employed in the industry, but they want to move ahead. So perhaps they're operating in an entry-level position and they want to move into something with regulatory affairs or something with formulation and manufacturing, or look at more analytical chemistry or R and D (research and development)," Colby said. "They will be able to do that with this degree."

The program's first year will focus on dietary supplements and the second will center on medical marijuana, totaling 30 credit hours. Each leg of the program will include five courses and begin with general history and then move into pharmacy and toxicology.

Both the dietary supplement section and the medical cannabis section will go through a similar path of history and practice. The second-year medical cannabis courses will include policy and law, formulation and manufacturing, chemistry and standardization, pharmacy and toxicology and plant genomics.

The program expects to get full accreditation by the end of the semester so it will be on track to accept its first students next fall. The Institution of Higher Learning has already approved the program and courses.

Hayley Prescott, instructional assistant professor of biomolecular sciences, will teach first-year courses on dietary supplements. She said she hopes the program will be a good foundation for a more educated workforce.

“We’re hoping to reeducate or educate the people who are already in the industry or educate those that want to enter into the industry,” Prescott said.

Prescott said another one of her personal goals for the program is to separate fact from fiction when it comes to dietary supplements, since a good amount of misinformation is circulating on the internet. She hopes to help people in the industry think critically. In turn, that will create a well-informed consumer, which Prescott said should come first.

“I think by educating the workforce, it will eventually lead to a more informed consumer,” Prescott said.

That reasoning reflects why Prescott began her career, of which she said her "hope was to be able to answer the 'why's' around a lot of herbal medicine."

Medical marijuana is a growing industry in Mississippi. A recent study by Nature and Bloom showed that Mississippians are searching for "What is CBD" more than any other state. It ranks second overall in states most interested in using CBD, topped only by Alabama.

Learn more on medical marijuana in MS: Considering cannabis? What to know about medical marijuana in Mississippi

Prescott said there has been an increase in interest especially after the COVID-19 pandemic as people searched for possible alternative and complimentary medicines.

There has also been a spike in interest after the passing of the state's Medical Cannabis Act in early 2022, which is now in full effect.

On the Ole Miss campus, the interest matches the overall spike in Mississippi. Colby said whenever the pharmacy school offers courses on medical marijuana, the seats fill up quickly. He said one course that he taught on medical cannabis had 50 students on the waiting list, and that just included pharmacy students.

Programs like the University of Mississippi's are only a part of a rapidly growing industry in Mississippi and beyond. Colby said this master's degree is the first step in a full curriculum with multiple additional programs centered around natural products and medical cannabis.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Ole Miss to offer masters degree program on medical marijuana