Pot processing course coming to Gatineau CEGEP
Gatineau's Cégep de l'Outaouais is one of four Quebec schools poised to teach students how to process harvested cannabis plants.
Quebec's Education Ministry recently gave the go-ahead for the course, which will also be taught at John Abbott College and Cégep Gérald-Godin in Montreal, and Collège de Valleyfield. The ministry still needs to approve a detailed curriculum.
At Cégep de l'Outaouais, up to 20 students could begin the course in the spring. First, the CEGEP must secure funding to buy equipment and reach agreements with cannabis producers.
There are currently some 40 students on the wait list for the course, which was developed in the Outaouais.
"[The demand] confirms we made a good choice," said Paule Bellehumeur, a consultant with Cégep de l'Outaouais who worked on developing the program.
If the CEGEP can't get its permits lined up to allow students to work with cannabis in the classroom, they might initially need to practise using other plants, Bellehumeur said.
Serving industry needs
The cannabis industry needs more trained workers to turn harvested cannabis into oils and other products, CEGEP officials told Radio-Canada.
"We have a natural fit because we have … a pharmaceutical production program [already]," said Dany Jenkins of Montreal's Cégep Gérald-Godin.
"When you look at cannabis production and transformation, there are lots of techniques modelled on what's happening in pharmaceuticals."
Cannabis company LiveWell said it's been talking with the CEGEPs to offer students internships and research opportunities at its two facilities in the Ottawa-Gatineau area.
It estimates it will need between 150 to 200 new employees within a year to work at its greenhouses, processing and packaging facilities.
Looking at age requirements
In Quebec, the legal age to consume cannabis is currently 18. The recently-elected Coalition Avenir Québec, however, has indicated that it plans to increase the legal age to 21, which would make it the highest in Canada.
Even if that plan goes ahead, the vast majority of the students interested in taking the cannabis processing program at Cégep de l'Outaouais are over 20, said spokesperson Simon Desjardins.
Desjardins said the school is currently debating two possible admission requirements: one demanding students be of legal age when they enrol in the course, and another demanding they be of legal age by the time they complete the program.
Other post-secondary schools offering cannabis-related courses include Loyalist College in Belleville, Ont., where students are learning to develop cannabis drinks, and the University of Ottawa, which is teaching cannabis law.
