www.HartfordBusiness.com • November 12, 2018 • Hartford Business Journal 3
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Cities sink Stefanowski
"I went to bed, we were up
20,000 votes, but the last
precincts to come in are in
New Haven and Hartford and
Bridgeport. They tipped the
scales early this morning."
Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob
Stefanowski on how losing big in major cities
cost him the election.
Gerald Berkowitz | Professor, UConn
By Sean Teehan
steehan@hartfordbusiness.com
Some pot plants at the University of Connecti-
cut won't be in danger of confiscation by over-
zealous resident advisors.
That's because a new
course taught by Professor
Gerald Berkowitz will teach
students about marijuana
growing, a nascent industry
in Connecticut and around
the country as more states
legalize cannabis use for
medical and/or recreational
purposes.
Before he was recruited
to UConn, Berkowitz was a professor in the plant
and soil department at Rutgers University. For
the past few years, he's been researching can-
nabis and seen increased demand from students
who want to learn about the drug and industry.
The UConn class — called "Horticulture of Can-
nabis: from seed to harvest" — is a lecture course,
and it's attracted about 270 students who will begin
studies in January, Berkowitz said. He speculates in-
creasing support for full marijuana legalization, and
that a "how-to-grow-cannabis" course offered at a
major university will contribute to that momentum.
Connecticut has a medical-marijuana program
but has not legalized recreational use of the drug.
How do you respond to people who say students
shouldn't receive college credits for a class related
to marijuana, which is still illegal under federal law?
For too long, there has been a strong partition
between cannabis and solid science and scholar-
ship in the U.S. Turning a light on in a dark room
can only be a good thing. And, the application of
solid science to a topic that impacts the public, and
the linking of scholarship to it, can only be benefi-
cial. If not at a university, where else to do this?
Can you tell us about a recent development that
bodes well for further medical-marijuana pro-
gram adoption by other states?
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently
approved cannabidiol, or CBD (a cannabis com-
pound that doesn't make people high), from mari-
juana as medically efficacious. That is significant
because the U.S. government has said there is no
medical use of cannabis, hence all cannabis, includ-
ing hemp, and all products (such as CBD) are illegal
under federal law. The FDA ruling changes that.
How have your previous students fared in the
legal marijuana industry?
Students who have worked on cannabis projects
in my lab previously have gotten jobs in industry
grow facilities. Current students are working at
medical marijuana testing labs on improving the
cannabinoid analyses. Companies from Connecticut
are expanding to Massachusetts, which legalized
recreational pot use, opening labs in California and
considering Canada. Job prospects are what it's all
about, and it only will expand.
VERBATIM
Lamont's call for
bipartisanship
"Labor and business,
Republicans and Democrats,
we're all in this together as a
state. I need everybody rowing
in the same direction."
Democrat Ned Lamont reacting to his
electoral victory in the 2018 governor's race.
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Gerald Berkowitz
