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Want to break into Arizona’s highly competitive weed industry?
GateWay Community College is expanding its cannabis career certificate programs to Valley residents looking to pursue a different kind of higher education. Beginning in early March, the college, which has campuses around the Phoenix area, will offer several online courses to help students cultivate their skills and break into the industry.
The college began offering cannabis certificate programs through the cannabis training company Green Flower in October 2025. Students could initially sign up for four online certificate programs, lasting between nine weeks and six months and costing $750 to $1,950 per course.
The programs allowed students to “kind of choose their own adventure,” Green Flower president and CEO Max Simon told New Times last January. Students could build retail skills to bring into a budtender position or as growers in cultivation plants, prep for a role in the manufacturing sector or even ready themselves to create their own cannabis business.
Now, GateWay is adding two more cannabis certification options. Students can now choose from six online courses that last from eight weeks to four months, costing $850 to $2,200 per course. The next cohort of classes begins on March 10, with new dates offered every eight weeks.
“We’re looking forward to continued collaboration with Green Flower to deliver high-quality, workforce-aligned cannabis education to our students,” wrote Gateway program supervisor Maureen Hannon in a press release. “This partnership allows learners to gain knowledge and skills they need to join the cannabis industry.”
There are similar courses focused on manufacturing, retail sales and legal compliance, but also new courses focused on educating mental health professionals about medical cannabis use and the cultivation of marijuana plants for workers who already have experience in the industry.
The cannabis industry is a highly regulated and complicated one, with laws that vary from state to state. GateWay’s courses cover the legal requirements to work in the nascent industry but also much more. The specific curriculum varies by program, Hannon said, but students generally are taught the history and biology of the plant, product knowledge (including delivery methods and the effect of various strains), and health, safety and security measures.
Enrolled students are also given access to Green Flower and GateWay’s Cannabis Career Resource Center, which is an online resource that helps students improve their resumes, prepare for interviews and build leadership and entrepreneurship skills. The center also connects students directly with cannabis companies looking to hire and an “exclusive LinkedIn community” of cannabis professionals.
“These new Cannabis Career Certificates are built to match exactly what employers are hiring for in each sector of the cannabis industry,” Simon wrote in a press release.
Having a certification typically isn’t necessary for jobs in the cannabis industry. Some states require dispensary budtenders to go through a certification process, but Arizona does not. However, while the Arizona weed industry has ballooned since recreational weed use was legalized in 2020, the cannabis job market has tightened.
Open budtender or grower positions used to be plentiful at dispensaries or cultivation operations. Last year, Simon told New Times that data shows cannabis-related job listings receive between 30 to 70 applicants per job. With so much competition, he hopes GateWay’s certifications will help applicants “stand out more” and have their “employers take them exponentially more seriously.”
Danny Trevi, a 37-year-old Tucson resident, completed the school’s cannabis retail specialist course in December 2024 after spending 24 years working in the medical field. The program, which he said was “pretty easy,” helped Trevi “get my foot in the door and get an idea of what it looks like.” Speaking to Phoenix New Times a month after finishing his certificate, Trevi hadn’t secured a job as a budtender yet, but he had considered taking another one of GateWay’s classes to get into the cultivation side of the industry.
While GateWay is entering its second full-year offering Green Flower’s cannabis classes, it has offered other weed-focused courses since 2020. Green Flower has also offered other types of classes for nearly 10 years, including at the University of Arizona.
