COOKING WITH CANNABIS

As a student at Metropolitan State University of Denver, Shannon Donnelly recalls thinking about how she would love to teach a cannabis class on the Auraria Campus one day.

That day arrived this past fall, when Donnelly helmed a Cooking With Cannabis class in the University’s School of Hospitality. Donnelly, who has more than 15 years of experience in the cannabis industry and serves as an affiliate professor at MSU Denver, sees the class as an entry point for students wanting to break into the field.

“Cooking with cannabis can create multiple ways that someone can work in the industry,” said Donnelly, a 2013 graduate from the University’s Land Use program. “They can work at a manufacturing facility. They can work inside of a hospitality establishment and throw different events centered on cannabis, or they can work in research and development and make new products.”

Colorado’s cannabis industry supported more than 38,000 jobs as of January 2022, according to Leafly, a website focused on cannabis education. That makes the state the secondlargest cannabis job market in the country. And although the industry in Colorado recently saw its first-ever annual decline in profits since the legalization of cannabis for recreational use in 2012, national job trends remain promising. The same report showed a 33% increase in cannabis jobs nationwide.

In her cooking class, Donnelly teaches the difference between cannabidiol (CBD), which is used in the course, and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the substance in the plant that gets the user high. CBD is nonpsychoactive, meaning it doesn’t produce mind-altering effects but has medicinal uses. Once isolated, CBD can be combined with cooking oil to use for drinks, sauces and cookies.

After students understand the cooking fundamentals, they move on to dosing and regulations. “They’ll end the semester really understanding the math around the calculations,” Donnelly said. “Then, we make sure everything is federally compliant and tested so (that) we know what we’re using in class is safe.”

Donnelly said there is no better place to educate people about cannabis than Colorado, which she called “the Silicon Valley of the cannabis industry” because the world has its eyes on the state to see what’s next.