Professor Shad Ewart’s Entrepreneurial Opportunities in Emerging Markets: Marijuana Legalization class has been on the radar of many media outlets across the nation.

“The stories have been fair and quick to point out that the class is about serious business, and not the ‘Cheech and Chong’ factor,” said Lauri Farrell, assistant director of public relations and marketing.

Professor Shad Ewart’s Emerging Markets has picked up a lot of media coverage– 55 clips so far. This includes newspaper articles, as well as radio and television interviews in such outlets as USA Today, WUSA Channel 9 and Fox 4 (both from Washington, D.C.), WMAR TV (Baltimore), Maryland Public Television’s “Your Money in Business,” The Capital and the Baltimore Sun.

With the exception of a story that aired on the national news channel Fox that mentioned the class as one of several college classes related to marijuana being offered in the U.S., the coverage has been very positive.

What is it about this class that is creating so much buzz?

Professor Ewart, who has been teaching business at AACC for 15 years, breaks down the reasons why he thinks this class is so important.

“I have been teaching business at AACC for over 15 years and it is the one industry that students constantly ask me questions about,” said Ewart. “Students that start firms may not become the Johnnie Walker, the Jack Daniels [or] the Laftie-Rothchild of the future.”

The existing market is also a very promising factor of this idea: “Never has there been an industry where the demand is known,” said Ewart. “…7.6 million daily users of marijuana and 25 million weekly users of marijuana…you don’t need to advertise or anything else for these folks, they will purchase the moment the doors to a dispensary open in the morning.”

Ewart compares this new business venture to the Gold Rush, saying “the ones who made the money, did so by selling the picks and shovels, not the ones who mined with picks and shovels…opportunities exist for t-shirt sales, accounting, banking, marketing consulting, nutrients, soils, lighting, computer controls, machinery to infuse products, transportation, security.”

For more information on the class contact Professor Ewart : sbewart@aacc.edu.