Hofstra Law teaches the business of marijuana

NEW YORK (FOX 5 NEWS) - At Hofstra University Law School in Hempstead, Long Island, you'll find attorney Marc Ross teaching the Business and Law of Marijuana.

"My first thoughts were 'what can they teach?'" said third year law student Anthony Larson. "It's such a new area of law, we don't even have a text book, so I was very interested to see how we would learn."

Ross said he created the first law school class on marijuana three years ago as a way to teach students about the legalities and ethical issues attorneys face. He also looks at marijuana as an investment policy. 

"It is a burgeoning multi-billion dollar industry and these students don't see that many possibilities in their lifetime where you have a multi-billion dollar industry," Ross said.

Ross teaches the class once a week every spring and lets in only 25 students. This way the conversation flows in an intimate setting. He said students think marijuana is a cool topic until they learn about the tax setbacks and other implications that come with having a marijuana-related business.

"You cannot take most of the business deductions you would take as running an ordinary business, so you can't take the deductions for rent, salaries," Ross said. "You can only take the cost of goods as a deduction to running the business."

Ross plans to keep teaching this law class every spring for as long as Hofstra will have him. Even now, after the semester has started a wait list of 40 people are hoping to get in.