ST. LOUIS — After losing her job during the pandemic, a Wisconsin woman turned her passion for cannabis into a new business thanks to an online St. Louis University program that aims to remove the stigma around marijuana.

What You Need To Know

  • SLU’s online Cannabis Science and Operations Certificate program launched in August 2018

  • The program offers six courses, including the fundamentals of cannabis, the cultivation of cannabis, the extraction of product production, compliance and dispensing, the pharmacological properties of cannabis, and a new course on cannabis law and entrepreneurship

  • The program started with 80 students across four states, and four years later, there are more than 350 students in the program across 39 states

  • After losing her job during the pandemic, Erin Kelly in Wisconsin launched her new business, Kelly's Greens, last year thanks to the SLU program

Cannabis enthusiast Erin Kelly worked in health care for 20 years before learning her position was eliminated while on Christmas vacation in 2020.

“When that happened to me, I just was at a loss,” she said. “Already with the pandemic going on, it kind of puts things in perspective of what it is that you really want to do with the limited time you have here.”

“I wondered if I could turn my hobby of making edibles into a business.”

Inspiration came after reading, “A Woman’s Guide to Cannabis,” by St. Louis author Nikki Furrer, which includes information on the different ways to use cannabis, edible recipes and more.

“Her book is really well written. It just really spoke to me. I remember reading that book out on the back deck in the sun, and just not being able to put it down,” Kelly said.

“It really just sparked a huge interest in taking edibles to the next level. And because I was a cannabis user myself, I was always disappointed with the lack of edibles that I could get even in states where it was legal, so I decided to make my own.”

When Kelly learned Furrer was teaching for St. Louis University’s Cannabis Science and Operations program, she said she enrolled right away.

BeLeaf Medical, a leader in the medical cannabis industry in Missouri, approached St. Louis University (SLU) officials about a need to educate employees in the medical marijuana industry, according to program director Stacy Godlewski.  

After working with the company to create a well-rounded curriculum, SLU’s online Cannabis Science and Operations Certificate program launched in August 2018.

“Missouri went medical in 2018, and all of these folks are getting jobs in dispensaries as budtenders, and marketing and cultivation managers, but not really having the foundation of an educational background to fall back on,” Godlewski said. “And so, why not us?”

The program offers six courses, including the fundamentals of cannabis, the cultivation of cannabis, the extraction of product production, compliance and dispensing, the pharmacological properties of cannabis, and a new course on cannabis law and entrepreneurship.

“We have folks coming in who don’t know anything about medical cannabis, but we also have folks who have maybe worked in the industry for a year or two and they’re leaving the program from budtenders all the way to GMs, to cultivation managers to laboratory technicians. So, there’s a wide variety of options for these students,” Godlewski said.

She said the program is helping to remove the stigma around the hemp plant by providing education on the different areas within the medical cannabis industry and about the benefits that marijuana can provide.

“It really has a lot of benefits and if we just give it a chance and read the research. We present to our students research that has been done well and has been done by valid researchers versus a Google search,” Godlewski said.

“And so, we have to make sure we’re paying attention to the good, the bad and the ugly of all sides of this particular topic because it is so new, and we really need to make sure that the information we’re sharing is accurate.”

All of the instructors currently work in the medical cannabis industry, according to Godlewski. The program started with 80 students across four states, and four years later, there are more than 350 students in the program across 39 states.

While Kelly was studying cannabis extraction and the production through SLU, she also was getting real-life experience working part-time at a CBD shop in her home state.

During that time, she also was developing her business and mentioned how the program helped her navigate cannabis industry hurdles with setting up a bank account and getting insurance.

In September 2021, Kelly launched Kelly’s Greens, selling small batches of CBD, Delta 8, hemp drive and Delta 9 gummies, cookies, and truffles, just three months before completing the program.

Due to the negative stigma with cannabis, Kelly said having an education was important to her so she can provide credibility when sharing knowledge about marijuana and her products.

“In the Milwaukee area, you can drive down the street and you go by some CBD shops where you think, ‘There is no way I want to go in there for anything,’ ” she said.

“I just want to be able to offer a different type of experience when it comes to cannabis where it’s accessible, it’s education based, it’s not 6-foot bongs in the back of an adult video store. It’s coming at a place of wellness in what to do and to make yourself feel better with whatever ails you.”

As her business grows, Kelly said she is looking forward to continuing to help people with cannabis, which has been an important part.

With the recent passage of Amendment 3 in Missouri, Godlewski said there are going to be 144 new micro licenses distributed within the state, which means more employees for the industry.

“With (Missouri) just going recreationally legal, we already have a lot of dispensaries and facilities that are up and running. We’re going to have more, but we need to educate the masses here, and that’s what we’re doing,” Godlewski said.

The new amendment also means another chance for those who have been criminalized for possession. With SLU’s program, they can now earn a certificate to pursue a career in the industry.

“There’s also an expungement assigned to that law and folks who have been marginalized because of this plant are now going to have the freedom to live their lives,” Godlewski said.

“This Catholic university believes in a second chance at education and so we have a lot of folks who now can get educated on something they’ve been marginalized for, and we’re happy to offer that to them.”

The program has also changed the lives of a family of four who turned their vegetable farm that was no longer lucrative into a profitable hemp farm.  

“Now, they have this whole new company that’s just changed their world and turned it around for the better,” Godlewski said. “This is what we’re doing, we’re changing lives and I can’t be happier to be a pioneer and be part of this.”

In the future, Godlewski said she hopes this program will move from an undergraduate certificate to a bachelor’s certificate.

“I think that we’re probably going to start seeing more of an international population coming through as well,” she said.

Last January, SLU launched a medical cannabis and therapeutic management program where students must have a bachelor’s degree to enter the program. It is geared more towards medical professionals and helping people understand and talk to their patients about the therapeutic benefits, according to Godlewski.

For more information about SLU’s Cannabis Science and Operations Certificate program, click here. For more information about Kelly’s Greens, click here.