Oaksterdam University Founder Richard Lee Steps Down

Lee’s Oaksterdam University was the first marijuana trade school in the nation. It garnered worldwide media attention after it opened in 2007. Lee used its profits to fund Proposition 19, the failed legalization ballot initiative back in 2010.

“I believe that cannabis prohibition is unjust and counterproductive,” he said. “What I’ve done is ethical, and I tried to use the resources that I had to do everything I could to change the laws.”

Oaksterdam University Raided

Speaking of resources, we watched them being all hauled off by the Feds on Monday. They took everything from plants, to files, to computers, to the safe, crippling the school and effectively destroying Lee’s life work. That morning the Feds detained Lee in his apartment while the raid by the DEA and IRS took place. He was told to stay away from the raid, but was never arrested. We hear that Lee’s aware and worried that he might be facing some major federal drug charges.

The very next day after the Federal raid Lee’s Oaksterdam Cannabis Museum and his Coffeeshop Blue Sky dispensary were back open. By Wednesday, the school was also reopened to finish up a few harvesting classes, but things are far from back to normal. According to Oaksterdam’s chancellor Dale Sky Jones the school has vowed to continue, but without any immediate resources she’s not sure how they’ll move forward.

Anyhow even though he’s giving up Oaksterdam University, he’s not giving up the fight. If he is charged by the feds he’s said that it “could become another major event in the march toward legalization and could turn even more Americans against the war on marijuana.”