Richard Pine Wants To Change Your Mind On Pot

Richard Pine gets a little emotional when he talks about cannabis. But it’s not because he’s a Cheech and Chong-worshiping pothead. The Cleveland Cannabis College founder and CEO has met people who have benefited from the drug’s ability to relieve chronic pain, anxiety and more. “It’s hard to hold tears back,” he says. “I’m helping teach people how to make a medication safely.” In fact, Pine uses cannabis rather than opioid-based pain pills as way to relieve chronic back pain. Thanks to passage of House Bill 523 in September, Ohio-licensed physicians can recommend cannabis for people with certain medical conditions. While Pine’s institution is unaccredited, it offers certificate programs and trains people to work in legal growth and dispensary facilities. Pine fills us in on a few things to know about his school, which launches a suite of business and cultivation majors this month. 

Lesson plant: Ohio is still hammering out its medical marijuana laws, but the early focus is on growers — you need a plant in order to dispense it. So for horticulture courses, the college has partnered with facilities in Oregon where students can learn to grow and maintain cannabis plants. “We tell people, ‘It’s great that you grew in your basement for 10 years,’ ” Pine says. “ ‘But you can’t put that on an [job] application.’ ”

Hemp history: Pine wants students to be versed in cannabis beyond how to grow it or use it. All three of the school’s majors require a history course that covers topics such as the ancient uses of hemp — fibers from a cannabis plant woven into a sturdy fabric — and marijuana’s vital role in the Civil War. “That’s going to help them find jobs and have conversations about the plant,” Pine says.

Addiction specialist: Pine uses cannabis to relieve chronic back pain instead of prescription opiates because it doesn’t have the same physically addictive qualities. That could make it a useful tool in keeping people off opiates or helping them transition away. “Addiction is a [weird] thing,” Pine says. “You can be addicted to the feeling cannabis gives you. But it doesn’t affect the same part of the brains as opiates do.”

Stigma blocker: To convince people of cannabis’ medical benefits, Pine and his school must overcome the stigma of the lazy pot smoker. So you’ll rarely hear him use the words pot, reefer or even marijuana — which is considered a slang term. “We don’t have any artwork [in the school] that is Bob Marley or people smoking bongs,” he says. “We stay away from the really typical marijuana leaf stuff.”