Thank you for supporting our journalism. This article is available exclusively for our subscribers, who help fund our work at the Chicago Tribune.Akilah Easter, a dean at Olive-Harvey College on Chicago's Far South Side, tends hemp plants in the college's new greenhouse. The college has expanded its cannabis curriculum and now offers in-district tuition to residents throughout the state.
“We wanted to bring it into a neighborhood that’s been affected the most by the war on drugs,” Easter said, citing outsized prison sentences for minor infractions such as cannabis possession. “Many people want to get an understanding of the significance of this plant.”Rather than just focusing on the production of cannabis for the state’s growing legal weed industry, the program addresses the cultural and societal impact of cannabis and its use, she said.
Easter, who teaches in Olive-Harvey’s Urban Agriculture Department and helped write the curriculum, can sometimes be found helping out in the college’s greenhouse, where students learn about the plants and how to care for them.