Living in Mendocino County, I sometimes feel surrounded by the "marijuana culture" which frequently pops up in our county. One of my ongoing jokes has been that I wanted to create a charter school called, "Hemp High", which would utilize the production and distribution of marijuana as the basis of its curriculum. For example, science instruction would include determining the THC potency of their crop. Mathematics instruction would be focused on the distribution and profits from the crop. Anyway, you get the idea. Clearly, this was only a marginally humorous joke on my part. I'd usually get a few chuckles, but it never went beyond that.

Apparently, not everyone thinks my idea is a joke. Today, I read this Oakland Tribune piece about Oaksterdam University, a trade school that provides instruction in the cultivation of marijuana.

You know you're in a different kind of college when a teaching assistant sets five marijuana plants down in the middle of a lab and no one blinks a bloodshot eye.

Welcome to Oaksterdam University, a new trade school where higher education takes on a whole new meaning.

The school prepares people for jobs in California's thriving medical marijuana industry. For $200 and the cost of two required textbooks, students learn how to cultivate and cook with cannabis, study which strains of pot are best for certain ailments, and are instructed in the legalities of a business that is against the law in the eyes of the federal government.

"My basic idea is to try to professionalize the industry and have it taken seriously as a real industry, just like beer and distilling hard alcohol," said Richard Lee, 45, an activist and pot-dispensary owner who founded the school in a downtown storefront last fall.

So far, 60 students have completed the two-day weekend course, which is sold out through May. At the end of the class, students are given a take-home test, with the highest scorer — make that "top scorer" — earning the title of class valedictorian.

While I do believe that there are cases where the medicinal properties of marijuana are beneficial, I'm afraid that the whole idea of people being able to grow their own "medicinal marijuana" is way out of control, particularly where I live. There are people who are clearly professional growers using this medicinal use as an excuse and a legal tactic.

There was a case in Ukiah recently where a couple brothers were growing over 300 plants adjacent to a local elementary school. They were eventually charged, but the case ended with hung juries. Now the District Attorney's office has to decide whether it is worth trying again. In another case, a Captain in our City Fire Department was arrested for having over 600 plants growing on her property... within the city limits.

Marijuana production in our county has always been significant, but with this pseudo-legalization, it is just out of control. I think that medicinal marijuana has been one of the biggest mistakes our state has made in a long time.