Social media has been ablaze after Instagram account @badgerbarstool posted that the University of Wisconsin-Madison is “now offering” a course on the science of cannabis last Wednesday. But contrary to the framing of the post, the class has actually been offered at UW-Madison for years, professor Shelby Ellison told The Daily Cardinal in an interview last Thursday.
“I use cannabis as a hook to draw students in to learn more about plants,” Ellison said. “I think a lot of people go into the class super excited to learn about drug-type cannabis production. But [students] leave the class super excited about hemp and all the industrial applications of the plant.”
“The Science of Cannabis” is a one-credit course offered every spring semester by the Department of Plant and Agroecosystem Sciences at UW-Madison. Ellison, assistant professor in the department, and researcher of alternative crops, created the course in spring of 2020 and has been teaching it since.
The course was originally titled “The Science of Hemp,” but the name was changed in the spring of 2023 when it officially became a class. The class name was changed because the word “hemp” is a legal definition while “cannabis” is a scientific name, Ellison said.
The class is primarily used as a tool to teach students more about the biology of plants using a crop many students are interested in learning more about.
“On day one, they will get seeds, and they'll plant seeds of different types of hemp or cannabis,” Ellison said. “It might be CBD type, grain type or fiber type, which are all very different.”
Throughout the semester, students will check on the growth of their plant.
“We have activities throughout the semester looking at plant anatomy, to be able to see the differences between the types of cannabis, and we take cuttings from the plants,” Ellison said.
Students also engage with current news and innovations in the growing hemp industry, with students presenting each week on something in current news relating to cannabis, Ellison said.
One point of emphasis in the course is social inequities relating to cannabis, and Ellison mentioned how the criminalization of cannabis has increased incarceration of Black people at a higher rate than white people, even rates of use of cannabis are similar for both groups.
The largest project in the class is a group presentation on a new hemp-derived product in the field, where students research a hemp-derived product and present it at the end of the course. Topics include current research, sustainability, how to grow hemp specifically for the product, feasibility of production and current availability of the product, according to a syllabus obtained by the Cardinal.
Ellison referenced many examples across the United States of unexpected ways in which hemp is being used. For example, a Wisconsin-based company is currently working to bring hemp-based batteries to market, providing a more sustainable material for battery production.
Hemp can also be used as a strong fabric in the textile industry. Patagonia is using hemp in a new clothing line, sourcing the hemp from farms across the United States, according to Ellison.
Hemp seeds are also extremely nutritious and can be used to feed animals, according to Ellison. Recently, the Association of American Feed Control Officials approved the use of a byproduct of hemp oil production to be fed to poultry across the U.S. However, it still needs final validation for use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Veterinary Medicine.
“I want people to know that it's a really multifaceted crop,” Ellison said.
One of the learning objectives of the class is for students to learn about and assess the viability of at least 10 hemp-derived products in the U.S., according to the syllabus. Chloe Zimmer, a UW-Madison alum who took the class, told the Cardinal that one of the most interesting things she learned in the class was all the historical uses of hemp.
Due to the controversial nature of cannabis and hemp in the U.S., Ellison takes care in discussing the current legal framework surrounding hemp with respect to its history and current shifts in the industry.
The Controlled Substance Act of 1970 made cannabis illegal federally under U.S. law. However, in recent years, states across the country have legalized cannabis for medical and recreational uses or reduced the penalties for the possession or use of marijuana. Earlier this month, Wisconsin Republicans introduced a bill to the state legislature to legalize medical marijuana.
In Wisconsin, cannabis is illegal for recreational use under state law. However, the federal 2018 Farm Bill removed hemp from the list of Controlled Substances, which the U.S. government uses to classify drugs based on their medical uses and potential for abuse.
Marijuana and hemp are two types of cannabis plants of the same species. Hemp is defined in the 2018 Farm Bill as cannabis (and derivatives of it) with less than 0.3% of THC, the psychoactive component that produces the "high" associated with marijuana. When cannabinoids are extracted from compliant hemp plants, they can be used legally in products.
In accordance with state and federal laws, all cannabis used during the course is legally hemp. The course also discusses the legal gray area that allows for THC products to be sold with little legal oversight in stores on State Street, Ellison said.
Students also have the opportunity to speak with hemp industry professionals, as various guest speakers will present on the state of hemp research and legalization in Wisconsin throughout the course of the semester. Additionally, students get to speak with a researcher on industrial hemp production from Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe University in Wisconsin on the developing tribal rules on hemp production.
“Cannabis is a fascinating subject area to study because it touches on every single department across campus,” Ellison said.
Ella Hanley is the associate news editor for The Daily Cardinal. She has written breaking, city, state and campus news. Follow her on Twitter at @ellamhanley.
