Satisfying curiosity about the newest industry

Dr. Julie Lessiter is in charge of the Continuing Education Workforce Development programs at LSU Shreveport. Over the summer, local economic developers approached her with the idea of bringing a cannabis company – that is, legal hemp – to the area. They wanted to work with the university’s Cyber Collaboratory.

She said she was cautious at first of having anything to do with cannabis or marijuana, but some research changed her mind.

“I looked into the industry, and the cannabis industry is one of the fastestgrowing in the nation, and it’s predicted to be the largest growth sector by 2030.”

She decided the time was right for LSU-S to look into offering classes, training or something to do with cannabis.

Working with her local contacts, she began to put together an informational series on the industry. “It’s really a holistic, 360-view of the cannabis industry. We started the first day with social justice and the history of cannabis, we’ve moved on to the scientific piece of it, medical use and abuse, we have law, we have a couple of people running Cannatech – which are cannabis technology companies – who are coming in to guest lecture. It’s really a high-level overview of the cannabis industry for people who are interested in breaking into this field.”

When she started putting the program together, she was asked how many people in the area might be interested. She estimated that 30 people would be a good turnout.

“We have about 80 people. We’re doing a combination because of Covid. Fifty people in person and about 30 people on Zoom. Then we have another 120 on the wait list. There was an incredibly large amount of interest in this course,” Lessiter said.

She said it’s an interesting group. Her surveys reveal an age range from 20 to 65, people with advanced degrees and people who didn’t graduate from high school. She said the average is 35-45 years old, persons who have a business and are looking to diversify, or those specifically interested in the cannabis industry.

“I think there’s a lot of curiosity. There’s clearly a lack of education around this topic because most people’s immediate reaction is my reaction: Oh, no. We’re not talking about marijuana.

“If you look at the law, there are so many facets of it. If you were going to open an industry or business in town with CBD, what are the laws, what can you do, what can you not do? What’s your legal liability? There’re so many things in this industry that are different from any other.

“I think information, education, being able to meet with other people – network with others who are trying to break into this industry – I think that’s the main goal of people who are taking this class,” Lessiter said.

The sessions are Tuesday and Thursday nights for two hours. The first hour to hour and a half is like a seminar, and the remaining time is used for questions from attendees in person and online.

Lessiter thinks LSU-S is strategically situated to assist in that planning thanks to the Cyber Collaboratory. She explained that the facility can gather large quantities of data and digest it into useable information.

“How do you take huge data sets and make sense out of them? By being able to use faculty expertise to take a complex problem and break it down into simple terms so we can get people working together to solve problems. To me, that’s a really valuable piece of this. We have to do this with small business and small industry.”

Why? The goal is to bring new industry to the area, Lessiter said. “So, how do you get new industry here? It’s much easier if you have a workforce developed and you have people that are interested in whatever it is – agricultural hemp, manufacturing rope, making biodegradable plastics – whatever that is.

“I think what we’re doing is just bringing people together, educating people; create a grassroots operation and turn it over to the economic developers and let them run with it. I say all the time, I am merely an educator. I’m just educating people. Here you guys go. Packaged it all up for you, off you go,” Lessiter adds.