The story
Founded by Richard Lee in 2007, in Oakland.1
Jeff Jones co-founded the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative (OCBC) in 1995. The OCBC initially functioned as a bicycle delivery service, providing cannabis to patients with medical needs in Oakland, California. Richard Lee, a cultivator from Houston, Texas, regularly provided the OCBC with high-quality cannabis, contributing to the reduction of prices. In July 1996, the City of Oakland formally endorsed the OCBC through a resolution.
Subsequently, Jones established the first medical cannabis dispensary sanctioned by the city government at 1755 Broadway. In the same year, California voters approved Proposition 215, which legalized the possession and cultivation of medical cannabis under state law.
In 1997, Lee relocated to Oakland and co-founded the Hemp Research Company. The Oakland City Council established a committee to clarify the medical use of cannabis and to define the city's role in enforcing drug laws. Attorney Robert Reich provided educational opportunities to the Oakland Police Department, advocating for cannabis to be considered their lowest law enforcement priority. In 2000, a District Court case involving Jeff Jones progressed to the U.S. Supreme Court. In United States v. Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative, OCBC argued for the right to manufacture and distribute marijuana for medical patients, but the U.S. Supreme Court did not rule in their favor.
In 2003, Lee opened coffee shop SR-17, which would later become coffee shop Blue Sky, joining other medical cannabis dispensaries that had cropped up in the now cannabis-friendly Oakland.
Lee later said he was inspired to create Oaksterdam University after visiting the Cannabis College in Amsterdam. Lee recalled:
In November of 2006 I visited Amsterdam and saw the Cannabis College there. I've seen in California that there are not enough good people who want to work in the cannabis industry in a professional way, who want to pay taxes and obey regulations and help improve their community. I came back from Amsterdam and the idea just popped into the back of my head...
Lee placed an ad in the East Bay Express that read, "Cannabis Industry, Now Hiring." In the first week, he received more than 200 calls, and Oaksterdam University was born. The university offered its first classes to 22 students in November 2007. They were taught horticulture, cooking, extracts, legal issues and managing successful law enforcement encounters, plus politics and history, from leaders in the cannabis movement, including Jeff Jones, Chris Conrad, attorney Lawrence Lichter, Dennis Peron, and Lee himself. Oaksterdam University quickly became "ground zero" for the international cannabis reform movement.
Demand for classes grew quickly, with multi-month-long waitlists. Dale Sky Jones joined Oaksterdam's staff as a science instructor in February 2008 and was determined to add satellite schools nationwide, starting with the first in Los Angeles, a second in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and a third in Sebastopol, California.
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By November 2009, two years after the school's inception, the Oakland campus at 1600 Broadway was renovated to meet increased demand. The new 30,000-square-foot school included multiple classrooms, an auditorium, a hands-on grow lab, a theater, and a 10,000-square-foot basement nursery full of cannabis plants.
In 2009, the City of Oakland Marijuana Tax Measure F passed, making Oakland, California, the first city in the country to assess a tax on medical cannabis clubs and dispensaries. Oaksterdam welcomed thousands of students from around the world, contributing to the revitalization of the neighborhood.
In addition to educating students, Oaksterdam University leaders acted as activists in the legalization movement, beginning with supporting California Proposition 19 in 2010. Lee spent $1.3 million, including profits from OU, to get the initiative on the ballot. While Prop 19 failed, the campaign became a blueprint for the cannabis legalization movement in California and subsequent states.
OU faculty helped write California's 1996 Proposition 215 Medical Marijuana Initiative; 1996 California Senate Bill 420 (also known as the Compassionate Care Act), 2016 California Proposition 64; and multiple state-level ballot initiatives. Faculty continue to advise on the legislation and regulation of cannabis by local, state, and international governments and agencies.
Raid
On April 2, 2012, Oaksterdam University was raided by the IRS, accompanied by the DEA and US Marshals Service. The raid additionally targeted coffee shop Blue Sky and the Oaksterdam Museum, both affiliated with Oaksterdam University. A number of the university's assets were seized, including plants, records, computers, and bank accounts.
A city council member told press that Oakland officials had not been briefed in advance about the raid, nor about what crime had allegedly been committed. After the raid, Oaksterdam University officials stated that they would immediately reopen. Oaksterdam University continued classes less than 48 hours later. Founder Richard Lee said he would be giving up ownership of the organization, citing mounting debt and concern for incurring federal charges. Ultimately no charges were filed. After the raid, Richard Lee retired, announcing he would focus on legislative activism.
Consequently, Oaksterdam executive chancellor Dale Sky Jones took over the position of Head of School in April 2012. The school lost many staff members and moved to a smaller venue in downtown Oakland, though some school officials continued to teach classes.
From Wikipedia’s article on Oaksterdam University, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4