Cannabis and Natural Medicinals Major | Truman State University

Cannabis and Natural Medicinals Major (BS)

As a cannabis and natural medicinals major, you’ll get to harness your curiosity about the multiple aspects of naturally occurring chemical compounds and their uses as therapeutics in traditional and holistic medicinal practices. Through core coursework spanning various aspects of the field, this interdisciplinary degree integrates the science behind cannabis and medicinal plants, the business and regulatory aspects of medicinal plants, and the social and cultural aspects of medicinal plant use.

This major provides a strong emphasis on transferable skills that can be applied effectively inside and outside the industry. Critical thinking, problem solving, communication, ethics, cultural literacy, and scientific methods are fundamental to this degree experience.

Career Paths

The cannabis and natural medicinals major prepares you for multiple career paths in the burgeoning medicinal plants industry including scientist, business leader, medical ethicist, health care advocate, and many more. You can also apply agricultural knowledge to other aspects of plant cultivation, including hydroponics, or pursue graduate study in law, the sciences, public policy, and other topics.

Areas of Study

When you pursue the cannabis and natural medicinals major, you have the flexibility to choose the area of study that matches your professional goals and interests.

Analytical Science

chemical principles
organic chemistry
chemical analysis

Society and Philosophy

psychology
ethics
philosophy and religion

Cultivation

horticulture
plant nutrition
soil science
plant anatomy
plant physiology
genetics

Business and Entrepreneurship

accounting
data analytics
marketing
finance
agricultural entrepreneurship
organizational behavior

Featured Courses

History of Natural Medicine

Examine the role of plants and other natural medicinals in traditional and modern medicines in cultures throughout the world, including the historical and cultural aspects of natural medicinals, therapeutic uses of plant extracts, psychoactive compounds, natural extracts associated with religious ritual, and the future of natural medicinals.

Regulation of Natural Medicinals

Examine the history of regulation of natural medicinals, with a focus on cannabis, within the United States and globally. You will examine current enacted regulation at state and federal level, with emphasis on Missouri.

Cannabis Cultivation and Processing

Study topics related to breeding, growing, and processing cannabis covering multiple strains of cannabis for various uses including seed, fiber, medicinal and recreational. Specific topics will include indoor and outdoor growth conditions, light requirements, growth media, nutrition, care schedules, harvest timing, pests, diseases and an introduction in to processing such as drying and curing. The laboratory component uses non-THC containing hemp plants throughout.

Chemical Principles

This introductory course with lab focuses on the underlying principles that are common to all chemistry disciplines. Topics covered include: stoichiometry, equilibrium, kinetics, thermodynamics, quantum mechanics and simple approaches to bonding (Lewis dot structures and VSPER theory).

Biomedical Ethics

Explore issues of biomedical ethics as presented in the papers of contemporary philosophers.

Entrepreneurship

Study economic and social roles of entrepreneurship and small business using a framework built around financing, marketing, and managing the business.

Psychopharmacology: Drugs and Behavior

Explore how prescription and social drugs interact with the body and the brain. You’ll study sedative-hypnotic drugs, drugs used to treat psychological disorders, drugs that stimulate brain function, analgesic drugs and psychedelics, herbal medicines, and anabolic steroids.