Oaksterdam University is a non-accredited

Educational accreditation

Educational accreditation is a type of quality assurance process under which services and operations of educational institutions or programs are evaluated by an external body to determine if applicable standards are met...

 for-profit

For-Profit School

For-profit education refers to educational institutions operated by private, profit-seeking businesses....

 educational facility and "political institution" founded in November 2007 by medical marijuana

Medical cannabis

Medical cannabis refers to the use of parts of the herb cannabis as a physician-recommended form of medicine or herbal therapy, or to synthetic forms of specific cannabinoids such as THC as a physician-recommended form of medicine...

 activist Richard Lee

Richard Lee (activist)

Richard Lee is a marijuana activist who runs various medical marijuana programs throughout the "Oaksterdam" area of downtown Oakland, California. He is regarded as a central figure in Northern California's medical marijuana movement. He also operates a coffee shop...

 to offer training for the cannabis

Cannabis (drug)

Cannabis, also known as marijuana among many other names, refers to any number of preparations of the Cannabis plant intended for use as a psychoactive drug or for medicinal purposes. The English term marijuana comes from the Mexican Spanish word marihuana...

 industry, with a mission to "legitimize the business and work to change the law to make cannabis legal". Its main campus is located in the Oaksterdam

Oaksterdam

Oaksterdam is a cultural district on the north end of downtown Oakland, California, where medical cannabis in a variety of competitively priced smokeable and edible preparations is available for purchase in multiple cafes, clubs, and patient dispensaries. Oaksterdam is located on the north end of...

 area of Downtown Oakland

Downtown Oakland

Downtown Oakland is the central business district of Oakland, California; roughly bounded by 6th Street or the Oakland Estuary on the southwest, Interstate 980 on the northwest, Grand Avenue on the northeast, and Lake Merritt on the east....

, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

. There are also campuses in Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

, Sebastopol

Sebastopol, California

Sebastopol is a city in Sonoma County, California, United States, approximately north of San Francisco. The population was 7,379 at the 2010 census, but its businesses also serve surrounding rural portions of Sonoma County, totaling about 50,000 people...

, and Michigan

Michigan

Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

.

History

Activist Richard Lee

Richard Lee (activist)

Richard Lee is a marijuana activist who runs various medical marijuana programs throughout the "Oaksterdam" area of downtown Oakland, California. He is regarded as a central figure in Northern California's medical marijuana movement. He also operates a coffee shop...

 was inspired to create Oaksterdam University after visiting the Cannabis College

Cannabis College

The Cannabis College is a non-profit information centre located in the centre of Amsterdam's historic Red Light District. Opened in 1998, the info centre features displays of the many and varied uses for Cannabis sativa and industrial hemp, as well as the history of human interaction with the plant...

 in Amsterdam

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...

. Lee recalled:
Amsterdam is the model for the World.

The university offered its first classes to 22 students in November 2007. As of November 2009, the university has granted certificates of completion to 6,000 students.

Curriculum and Tuition

The university's curriculum

Curriculum

See also Syllabus.In formal education, a curriculum is the set of courses, and their content, offered at a school or university. As an idea, curriculum stems from the Latin word for race course, referring to the course of deeds and experiences through which children grow to become mature adults...

 reaches all aspects of the medical marijuana industry, from horticulture

Horticulture

Horticulture is the industry and science of plant cultivation including the process of preparing soil for the planting of seeds, tubers, or cuttings. Horticulturists work and conduct research in the disciplines of plant propagation and cultivation, crop production, plant breeding and genetic...

 to legal issues.

Tuition is $250 for a basic course, a series of weekend seminars which includes lessons and lectures on politics

Politics

Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...

, legal issues, horticulture

Horticulture

Horticulture is the industry and science of plant cultivation including the process of preparing soil for the planting of seeds, tubers, or cuttings. Horticulturists work and conduct research in the disciplines of plant propagation and cultivation, crop production, plant breeding and genetic...

, as well as business management. Also, a semester schedule is offered for $700.

Opposition

Opposition to the university has been shown by the Drug Enforcement Administration

Drug Enforcement Administration

The Drug Enforcement Administration is a federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Justice, tasked with combating drug smuggling and use within the United States...

, which claims the school "sends the wrong message in the country's fight against drugs and promotes criminal activity."