GROWTH INDUSTRY: LEARNING HOW TO GROW MEDICAL MARIJUANA

This is what a medical-marijuana class looks like. Twenty-five or so
students - men, women, young, middle-aged - listen attentively as an
instructor holds up a leafy green plant and runs down the list of
nutrients it needs. Nitrogen: stimulates leaf and stem growth.
Magnesium: helps leaf structure. Phosphorous: aids in the germination
of seeds. Michigan's Med Grow Cannabis College is one of several
unaccredited schools to have sprung up in the 14 states and the
District of Columbia that have legalized medical use of marijuana.
Many of its students suffer from chronic pain. Others are looking to
supply those in need of relief.

The Med Grow campus sits across the street from a KFC in Southfield,
a relatively prosperous suburb of Detroit. Nearly one-fifth of its 90
or so students are former auto-industry workers. These recent
enrollees - and the more than 1,000 people who have completed courses
at Med Grow since it opened in September - are betting that studying
such topics as bloom cycles and advanced pruning techniques will help
them succeed in what may be one of the few growth industries in
Michigan, home of the nation's highest unemployment rate: 14%. With
medical marijuana fetching as much as $500 for 1 oz. (28 g),
providing it to a mere five patients could generate $10,000 a month in sales.

Six-week courses at Med Grow cost $475, and the school is planning to
open campuses in Colorado and New Jersey within roughly the next
year. Meanwhile, the nation's first marijuana school, the
three-year-old Oaksterdam University, has expanded from Oakland,
Calif., to locations in Los Angeles and one in Flint, Mich., and may
open more.

But as Med Grow founder Nick Tennant can attest, it's not easy being
a leader of an emerging industry. Tennant, a very lean, very blond
24-year-old, grew up in the Detroit suburb of Warren and watched the
auto-detailing business he started after high school founder along
with the region's economy. Then, in 2008, a surprising majority of
Michigan voters approved a measure to allow people with cancer,
Crohn's disease, AIDS and other ailments to apply for state-issued
cards to grow or obtain marijuana. He recalls thinking, "You could
sit there and watch the industry evolve or step into the game."

So he wrote up a business plan for a marijuana-growers school and
approached his car-detailing clients as potential investors. Many
thought it was a joke, but enough took him seriously. He declines to
say how much money he raised.

The next step was finding a landlord. One told him flatly, "I don't
want to take on the risk." To which Tennant replied, "If you want to
let your building sit vacant, go for it." He eventually settled on
5,000 sq. ft. (465 sq m) in an office building in Southfield, a half
hour's drive north of downtown Detroit.

The first thing you notice when you walk into Med Grow is the pungent
smell of marijuana. One of the school's two grow rooms showcases a
single massive marijuana plant that, in terms of height and canopy,
is about the size of a kitchen table.

Size matters, because Michigan limits the number of plants patients
and caregivers may grow. Patients, more than 18,000 of whom have
registered with the state since the law took effect in April 2009,
may grow up to 12 marijuana plants. Caregivers - some 7,800 have
registered so far - are restricted to a dozen plants for each of the
five patients they're allowed to supply. But the law doesn't address
where registrants can obtain plants or seeds. Nor does it address the
issue of pharmacy-like dispensaries.

"This law is still brand-new, and it has a lot of gray areas," says
James McCurtis, spokesman for Michigan's department of community
health, which manages the state's medical-marijuana program.

Southfield's police chief, Joseph Thomas Jr., is keeping a close eye
on Med Grow. His officers have let its students know that if they get
caught with marijuana, then, as Thomas puts it, "we're going to drop
you like a bad habit." Although he thinks the school has a right to
exist, he uses this analogy: "You can teach people how to shoot a
gun, but they can't go out and rob a bank with it."

Med Grow's curriculum includes classes on law, accounting and
business development. But marketing yourself as a caregiver is
tricky. Students are warned against telling acquaintances that they
grow marijuana. Med Grow staffer Tom Schuster, 52, a former bank
employee, provides a cautionary tale: a few weeks ago, someone ripped
a hole in the wall of an apartment he managed and took $15,000 worth
of marijuana and $5,000 worth of lamps and other growing equipment.
"Stole my whole livelihood," he says of the incident, which he did
not report to the police.

Fear of violent crime is one reason recreational use of marijuana is
still illegal almost everywhere. And yet, ironically, the reason
Detroit may follow Philadelphia's lead and liberalize restrictions on
possession of small amounts of marijuana is to alleviate the strain
on the local criminal-justice system.

In November, Californians will vote on a measure that would legalize
marijuana for recreational use - and allow the drug to be taxed. Tom
Ammiano, a Democratic assemblyman from San Francisco, estimates such
a tax could generate up to $2 billion in annual revenue for
California. "When I speak about this issue, there's always a line of
people with a business angle - an idea for a dispensary or a new grow
light," he says. "We're a capitalistic society, and realistically,
the tax will push people over the edge [to] realize, 'There's gold in
them thar hills.'" And Nick Tennant will have his pickax at the ready.