HILLSBORO, Ore. -- Medical marijuana advocates have opened a school where people can learn how to grow and use pot to manage illness, KPTV in Portland, Ore., reported.

The Oregon Medical Cannabis University, located in a warehouse off Cornelius Pass Road in Hillsboro, opened in October. The school offers classes and community centers where people can access the drug.

The school is growing, organizers said, and it has already helped dozens of sick people.

"We've had people with cancer, Parkinson's, broken bones. We had a guy with hip surgery who was in a wheelchair when he came here and (now) he's walking around with a cane," said Claudia Lavander, the university's president.

The Cannabis University is currently funded by the owner, but she said she hopes the school will eventually have enough paid memberships to make the university self-sufficient.