Last month, NYC Mayor Eric Adams launched Cannabis NYC, a new program designed to provide training and retail licenses to entrepreneurs in the city’s burgeoning cannabis industry.

Adams and city officials introduced the program at a news conference at CUNY Medgar Evers College, the first school in the CUNY system to implement a cannabis studies minor.

The minor includes three tracks — formulation and testing, science commercialization and social and health impacts — and has seen success since its inception last fall.

Baruch College should emulate Medgar Evers and create an undergraduate cannabis studies minor at the Zicklin School of Business, as it is one of the best-valued business schools and institutions for social mobility nationwide.

The minor would augment the school’s existing selection of over a dozen minors ranging from business law to statistics, providing students with a ripe opportunity to enter one of the city’s newest, fastest-growing industries.

A cannabis studies minor at Baruch could match the structure of Medgar Evers’ minor, or even specialize in the commercialization and entrepreneurship side of the industry to provide much-needed training for the industry’s future leaders and workforce.

A greater focus on cannabis in higher education in the city would help further diversify an industry where 81% of business owners are white, according to a 2017 study.

An additional minor in the CUNY system designed to prepare young students and entrepreneurs for success in the cannabis industry would supplement the city’s greater initiatives to destigmatize and ensure fair and equitable access to the growing industry’s success.