Liar, Liar. Why You Should Not Purchase Cannabis Based On The Label Design.
Jessi Cox Cannabis Art // All Rights Reserved 2021
Liar, Liar. Why You Should Not Purchase Cannabis Based On The Label Design.
Jessi Cox
Founder & CEO at Loving The Plant
Written by: Jessi Cox — Loving The Plant
Have you been reading about the cannabis potency debate online? Many cannabis industry natives are saying that they do not buy cannabis based on the THC % and they use other ways to decide if the cannabis they are purchasing passes their own personalized tests.
Yes, there’s much more to cannabis than just THC.
Yet, when average consumers go into cannabis dispensaries they are buying based on two basic measurements price and THC content.
Don’t simply take my word for it — for solid data, look no further than the CBD boom.
Here are some quick facts about CBD and THC for my followers and friends who are just now learning about cannabis, but also some new research that might compel my industry connections to think differently when creating your package designs to reference your cannabinoids, terepen and other cannabis product nuances.
Cannabinoids are a class of drugs that are chemically similar to tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the active agent in Cannabis . Cannabinoids create feelings of elation, known as a high, but they also negatively impact mental and physical functioning
What is THC?
Molecule of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the main mind-altering ingredient found in the Cannabis plant.
THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, is the chemical responsible for most of marijuana’s psychological effects. It acts much like the cannabinoid chemicals made naturally by the body, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).
Cannabinoid receptors are concentrated in certain areas of the brain associated with thinking, memory, pleasure, coordination and time perception. THC attaches to these receptors and activates them and affects a person’s memory, pleasure, movements, thinking, concentration, coordination, and sensory and time perception, according to NIDA.
THC is one of many compounds found in the resin secreted by glands of the marijuana plant. More of these glands are found around the reproductive organs of the plant than on any other area of the plant. Other compounds unique to marijuana, called cannabinoids, are present in this resin.
THC and CBD effects on the body
THC stimulates cells in the brain to release dopamine, creating euphoria, according to NIDA. It also interferes with how information is processed in the hippocampus, which is part of the brain responsible for forming new memories.
THC can induce hallucinations, change thinking and cause delusions. On average, the effects last about two hours, and kick in 10 to 30 minutes after ingestion. Psychomotor impairment may continue after the perceived high has stopped, however.
“In some cases, reported side effects of THC include elation, anxiety, tachycardia, short-term memory recall issues, sedation, relaxation, pain-relief and many more,” said Shawn Kemp, a cannabis chemistry expert at Yerba Verde, a California agricultural company focused on local farming and medical cannabis. However, he said, a study in the British Journal of Pharmacology found that other types of cannabinoids, as well as terpenes (compounds that produce flavor and fragrance in plants), can modulate and reduce negative effects.
One cannabinoid, CBD is non-psychoactive, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, and actually blocks the high associated with THC. CBD is advertised as providing relief for anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. It is also marketed to promote sleep. Part of CBD’s popularity is that it purports to be “nonpsychoactive,” and that consumers can reap health benefits from the plant without the high (or the midnight pizza munchies).
Can I take CBD every day? Not only can you, but for the best effects, in most cases you actually should take CBD on a daily basis. “You can’t overdose on CBD, and it’s lipophilic (or fat soluble), which means it compounds in your body over time, adding to potential health benefits,” says Cox.
When it comes to moving product on the legal recreational market, only two numbers matter: the list price, and the THC content.
Super-potent cannabis flower, with THC percentages of 25 % and up, dominate California dispensary shelves, and others across the USA and Canada. High-THC cannabis generally sells out very quickly while lower-percentage cannabis products gather dust, and must be discounted or destroyed.
When cannabis tests at more than 25 percent THC, dispensaries can justify charging $65 or more for a store-bought eighth.
Mainly because there’s a very good chance people will pay for it, confident that they’re taking home the best and most potent cannabis flower and concentrate available.
“If cannabis is in the teens or low twenties, well, it had better cost less” has become a common sentiment.
The problem is that this kind of thinking is all wrong. Our thinking about cannabis purchasing is focused on variables that truly have little bearing on product quality.
THC shopping based on those two basic factors is almost as terrible and daft as buying wine based on how cool the label looks (which is also how some people buy their cannabis), even going to a restaurant because the sign is cool!
Not only does THC content have nothing to do with how “good” the cannabis product is, as recent research conducted by the University of Colorado and published in JAMA Psychiatry
Researchers at the University of Colorado at Boulder’s Institute of Cognitive Science documented the experiences of 121 cannabis users. Half the study participants were users of cannabis concentrates — very-high THC cannabis extracts — and the other half preferred cannabis flower.
Both groups received cannabis at varying “strengths”: flower users tried cannabis flower at either 16 percent or 24 percent THC, and extract users received oil at either 70 percent or 90 percent THC. Researchers checked study participants’ blood and monitored their mood, cognitive function, and intoxication level before, immediately after, and one hour after use.
As the researchers expected, the concentrate users had very high levels of THC in their bodies after use.
But they weren’t “more high.”
In fact, every participants’ self-reported “highness” was about the same — “as were their measures of balance and cognitive impairment,” as CU noted in a news release. Medium THC flower, high-THC flower — all the same high! This was not what the researchers were expecting.
High-THC cannabis doesn’t even get you “more high”
Researchers at the University of Colorado at Boulder’s Institute of Cognitive Science documented the experiences of 121 cannabis users. Half the study participants were users of cannabis concentrates — very-high THC cannabis extracts — and the other half preferred cannabis flower.
Both groups received cannabis at varying “strengths”: flower users tried cannabis flower at either 16 percent or 24 percent THC, and extract users received oil at either 70 percent or 90 percent THC. Researchers checked study participants’ blood and monitored their mood, cognitive function, and intoxication level before, immediately after, and one hour after use.
“People in the high concentration group were much less compromised than we thought they would be,” said coauthor Kent Hutchinson, a professor of psychology who studies addiction, in a CU news release. “If we gave people that high a concentration of alcohol it would have been a different story.”
(One very large exception to this: edibles. If one edible says it has 100 milligrams of THC, and another says it has 10 milligrams, and you eat the 100, you will absolutely be higher, longer, than if you ate the 10.)
There are a host of cannabinoids, including CBD as well as more than 100 others — most of which aren’t even tested for. (Even if they were, would the average buyer know what to do?)
Cannabinoids are a class of chemical compounds derived from hemp and cannabis that interact directly with the cannabinoid receptors found throughout the human endocannabinoid system. … Cannabinoids and terpenes develop in the resin glands, or trichomes, on the flower and leaves of cannabis plants.
There are also aromatic compounds called terpenes that dictate how cannabis affects the mind and body. All of these work in concert, a phenomenon known as “the entourage effect.” This is why synthetic THC simply didn’t have the same medical effects as smoking weed.
This plant contains many medicinal properties like anticancer, antimicrobial, antifungal, antiviral, antihyperglycemic, analgesic, anti-inflammatory, and antiparasitic (Franklin et al. 2001). Terpene is also used to enhance skin penetration, prevent inflammatory diseases (Franklin et al. 2001).
Some terpene profiles boast high numbers, often as high as 5 to 10 percent for myrcene and limonene, the two most prevalent terpenes in West Coast strains.
Myrcene percentages can range from 1 to 12 percent, limonene less prevalent. good way — maybe the best way — to determine if cannabis will be good, or at least good for you, is to smell it. Which unfortunately as mentioned is NOT allowed in most cannabis stores.
But in legal markets like California, that’s now impossible. Cannabis is sold in prepackaged containers. And the coronavirus pandemic eliminated what limited opportunities there were to smell cannabis. Some shops let you wave under your nose a designated “smell jar” — a few buds in a container with a perforated lid. Which is not currently offered and won’t be in many states coming on line.
But back to the matter at hand and the core of our article, THC numbers.
Cannabis researchers know it’s not an indicator.
Cannabis cultivators and sellers know it’s a farce. And yet, here we are, talking about it and trying to re-educate.
The cannabis consumer market simply hasn’t caught on, merchants are reluctant, by putting high-THC cannabis out on the shelves to satisfy the misdirected market demand, are ensuring that the misunderstanding continues.
Which is getting us absolutely nowhere.
“It’s a shame,” said Jessi Cox, the Founder of Loving The Plant. “We find incredible cannabis products that’s absolutely delicious that no one buys and ends up in the trash because it tests at 20 or 22 percent, because it did not sell by the sell by date. I think about all of the people who could use all of the plant medicine that is thrown away and it makes me feel so sad.”
At that level, despite “an incredibly diverse terpene profile, and being some of the tastiest cannabis in California, won’t sell based on its THC content and that is concerning to many of us who understand cannabis on a deeper level.” Cox Said.
“The average consumer is catching up already, they do not want to seem like they are dumb or square, so they ask for the highest cannabis percentage when they are at the dispensary” she added. “When people go shopping for cannabis at the dispensary or online for cannabis delivery, they look for two things: they’re looking for price, and they’re looking for THC percentage.”
The THC miseducation continues, for years now, despite our best efforts. Both social media influencers as well as cannabis entrepreneurs and advocates have tried to explain that the THC number is, at best, a rough estimate.
With this much attention, it’s unlikely that sharing scientific findings will change anything. It will take a long time for cannabis consumers to adjust their habits and realize THC content isn’t like alcohol by volume on a beer label after all.
Until they do, cannabis connoisseurs can take advantage of the market inefficiency, and take home superior pot with lower THC levels at a reduced price.
It will just require a little more work on the consumer’s end to find the diamonds in the rough.
And it will also require cannabis cultivators of lower THC, higher-high cannabis to have demand high enough to keep them in business, and that’s far from guaranteed.
