Medical marijuana business owners are seeking competitive advantages in the expanding market, and some are turning toward a better education for that edge.

Chris McMahan is an Army veteran who now owns Freedom Strains LLC, a grow business in Hennepin, but he’s relatively green to the green industry. McMahan took to the internet to learn more about marijuana and ended up enrolling in an online course offered by Cannabis Training University on the subject.

“Inside of the industry there is a huge push for education," McMahan said. "I ended up taking the CTU course online. It led to me learning a lot more about the plant and a lot more about the industry.”

CTU was founded in 2009 by Jeffrey Zorn to provide students with an opportunity to learn a variety of subject areas related to the marijuana industry.