Pot passage spawns school for home-growers.

• Author: Taylor, Mike
• Position: BUSINESS as usual

THE INK WAS BARELY DRY ON GOV. JOHN

Hickenlooper's Executive Order formalizing Amendment 64 and making it legal to possess and grow marijuana in Colorado, when Matt Jones and Freeman Lafleur sprang into action, launching THC University.

Named for the active ingredient in marijuana. THCU at this point is offering one full-day class, "Growing Marijuana 101," scheduled for Feb. 9 in a classroom they've rented on the Auraria campus in downtown Denver.

Attendees will be able to choose from three offerings: an "associates" program consisting of the daylong class for $175; a "bachelor's" program that includes the class and 24/7 online support for $275; and a "master's" program that includes the class, 24/7 support and a grow kit.

Jones and Lafleur hope to fill a need in light of the fact that while the law makes legal the personal use, possession and limited home-growing of marijuana, it is still illegal to buy or sell it.

"Right now we're focusing on the growing at home, but we're quickly going to be advancing to more of a certification program for people who want to get into the industry," Jones says. "In talking to a lot of dispensaries and edibles companies, that was one of the biggest things they mentioned: being able to hire students from the school who are already knowledgeable, because right now they have to do a lot of training. We want to get into more professional training once the regulations come out on the business/commercial side. One of my goals is to be one of the first classes to educate people on how to get into that business."

As of mid-January, Jones said the Feb, 9 class was about 60 percent of capacity, with about 12 attendees signing up at THCuniversity.org. He said he was already receiving interest about a second class planned for March 9. There will be no plants or product in the class

"I've had companies wanting to give samples and stuff to students, but there we're kind of crossing different boundaries," Jones says. "A lot of the students aren't going to have their (medical marijuana) card. We have to be careful on a lot of stuff like that."

Jones and Lafleur, both 24, have been friends and business partners since meeting at a T Mobile store where they both worked about four years ago. They shared a common passion for launching businesses, which they've...