Professor and lawyer by day, wife and mother by night. Tameika Range continues to raise the bar for excellence higher and higher.
The FAMU College of Law in Orlando has made history as the state’s first institution of higher learning to offer a cannabis law and social justice course, thanks to Range.
The cannabis advocate says she always wanted to educate young and soon to be lawyers about cannabis laws and social justice issues, which were evident in the industry. But after researching, she realized that only nine law schools taught the specific matter — and none of them were located in Florida.
Range proposed the course Cannabis Law and Social Justice o the law school dean in January 2017. It was immediately welcomed by the college and its chairman. After a couple of months of exposure, the class was eventually added to the school’s curriculum, according to Range.
While focusing on the business, legal and social justice issues within the cannabis industry, the class holds the title as the first cannabis course to incorporate social justice issues at a higher-learning institution in the state of Florida.
The curriculum covers an intro to cannabis, cannabis policy making and the effects of those policies on minority communities. The importance of being advocates for minority communities who have paid the price on several levels for the “war on drugs” is also covered.
“It feels amazing to be here, to talk about doing something and then seeing it actually happen has been a humbling experience. My goal was to make sure than an HBCU was the first to offer a course on cannabis and accomplishing that has given me a very great sense of pride,” Range said.
The first semester of the newly introduced class consisted of 12 students.
Range describes the students’ response to the course as joyously overwhelming, and added that they were sad once the semester ended, which is not so common in law school courses.
“This class was amazing. Professor Range has a wealth of information to share and always had answers to anything concerning this industry. I highly recommend this class to anyone interested,” Christina Brooks, a FAMU law student, said.
The Range Law Firm owner attained her bachelor’s in finance from the University of Central Florida in 2005, and later completed her juris doctorate at FAMU’s College of Law. She confidently shares how she “took a gamble” by applying only to FAMU in search of the HBCU experience that she had not yet been provided during her undergrad years.
The attorney believes the course is very relevant for young lawyers in their growing fields, and that it is a way for law students to be engaged in the subject matter as they decide what type of law they want to practice. Range also offers internship opportunities to her students at her law firm.
She currently serves as the owner of Range Law Firm, the co-founder and general counsel of ART420 ( cannabis inspired art), and is the chief compliance officer of Minorities 4 Medical Marijuana, a non-profit organization with 15 chapters nationwide that focuses on public policy, business development, medical access and social justice for minorities in the cannabis industry.
For more information on Range and her respective business services or mission, visit https://www.rangelawfirm.com