State-approved cultivation of marijuana is months away, but a Scottsdale school is gearing up to teach students how to grow medicinal buds for chronic health conditions.

Green Horizons University is opening in the Papago Plaza shopping center at Scottsdale and McDowell roads, next to the Red Kimichi Korean Restaurant, Holy Hill Acupuncture and the Flower Cart.

School director Dan Halbert said there was a need for medical-marijuana education before dispensaries and cultivation centers open across Arizona later this year.

Halbert operates two medical-marijuana dispensaries: Sons of Beaches in San Diego and the RainForest Collective near Venice Beach in Los Angeles. One-eighth of an ounce of RainForest marijuana is available for $55.

"Stoners, the young men who really love the plant, can be trained to work at a dispensary, to learn the effects of the plant, or at a hydroponic growing center," Halbert said.

Green Horizons University, with no mascot or nickname, is among spinoff businesses that have surfaced since Arizona voters narrowly approved a ballot measure in November, allowing closely controlled use of medical marijuana.

Law firms and doctors are also cashing in as consultants for dozens of applicants seeking 126 state licenses that could be awarded to operate dispensaries and cultivation centers.

However, Arizona's top federal prosecutor, U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke, warned earlier this week that marijuana growers and sellers could be prosecuted under federal law.

In other medical-marijuana states, a number of cultivation schools have been operating for several years, including Hempgard University, Cannabis Training University and Oaksterdam University, the so-called Harvard of medical-marijuana colleges. All three are based in Northern California.

Halbert initially was affiliated with Denver-based Greenway University but decided to open his own school, Green Horizons spokesman Jason Rose said.

Greenway founder Gus Escamilla would not comment on whether there was any legal dispute with Green Horizons but did say that his school hopes to open an Arizona location.

Greenway's courses include the history of hemp, budtending 101 and cannabis therapeutics. All those and other courses were approved by the Colorado Board of Occupational Schools. A 16-hour advanced-cultivation class is $1,195.

Scottsdale's Green Horizons will offer a four-hour beginning-cultivation course for $99, Halbert said.

Green Horizons also will sell growing equipment for medical-marijuana cultivation and offer legal, medical and auditing consultation to dispensary operators.

"We have a system that tracks plants from the seed to the patient," and detects if even 1 gram of pot has been pilfered, he said.

No actual marijuana will be grown or sold at Green Horizons, but techniques will be taught using other plants.

An indoor growing room will be set up to cultivate tomatoes or chili peppers using LED lights and hydroponic techniques that rely on water and nutrients rather than soil-based growing.

Halbert plans the school's grand opening next Thursday.

Kira Wauwie, Scottsdale community- and economic-development project coordinator, said Green Horizons does not need any zoning changes or use permits to operate other than a business license and possibly a building permit for any tenant improvements.

At least one neighboring business owner, Jessica Rutledge of the Flower Cart, said she had no problem with Green Horizons operating its school next to her florist shop.

"My only concern if it was a dispensary would be that people might try to break in," she said.

Halbert said his two California dispensaries, which opened in 2009, have made an effort to improve their communities.

"We want to be part of the revitalization of south Scottsdale," he said.

Halbert, who lived in the Valley from 1998 to 2009, operated Adventures 2000, which organized activities and trips for single adults.