15 December 2021 |

Cash To Consume Cannabis?

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Cash To Consume Cannabis?

Breaking down the study where participants are paid to consume cannabis…

The stereotype of the lazy stoner is declining.

Whereas once the idea that people become lazy courtesy of consuming cannabis was accepted at face value — new data is making it ever more difficult for people to make this association with cannabis.

More research…

In August, Dutchie surveyed thousands of cannabis consumers to understand what cannabis consumers look like.

Of the 5,000 cannabis consumers Dutchie surveyed, 58% of people reported being physically active and enjoying hiking and playing sports.

Eaze shared the results of a survey they completed in October that highlighted just how common it has become to pair cannabis with exercise in California.

In total, 36% of the consumers polled said they use cannabis to increase their productivity, with 37% of consumers pairing cannabis with exercise.

More data…

In order to dispel the stereotype of the lazy stoner the cannabis industry needs to have access to the right datasets.

To gather this data, researchers at University Colorado Boulder are recruiting people who regularly “use cannabis concurrently with exercise” to see how consuming cannabis impacts working out.

Participants in the study will earn up to $100, however, the adults participating must live in the Boulder area of Colorado.

“We want to understand how varying levels of cannabinoids like tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) can impact factors associated with regular exercise, such as enjoyment, motivation, and pain.”

The project is called SPACE as an abbreviation for Study on Physical Activity and Cannabis Effects.

Looking forward…

Looking at the results of the research Eaze completed where 37% of the cannabis consumers they polled said they were pairing cannabis with exercise — this niche looks like a big opportunity to build a successful cannabis brand.

To give credit where credit is due, Canopy Growth has done a great job at striking valuable partnerships with top athletes and sports teams across a number of different sports under its biosteel brand.

With partnerships in place with both the U.S hockey team & U.S soccer team it’s unlikely biosteel will add THC to their products anytime soon, however, much can be learnt from how they have built this brand.

Our Take

On a personal level, consuming cannabis prior to exercising was the moment whereby I gained a true appreciation for all that cannabis has to offer.

Until this point I had viewed cannabis as a product people solely consumed to achieve a state of relaxation, however, upon combining cannabis with exercise it became clear that cannabis can be used to enhance many more activities.

Commercializing Cultured Cannabinoids 

Breaking down the race to commercialize cultured cannabinoids in cannabis…

To produce cannabinoids, we currently grow cannabis plants and harvest the flowers these plants produce which contain cannabinoids such as CBD & THC.

This process takes 4+ months to complete, and only the very best growers can grow cannabis plants whose flowers produce more than 30% cannabinoids.

A new approach..

Alternatively, cannabis brands will be able to work with companies like Cellibre who are working to produce cultured cannabinoids.

Developing the technology to produce any & all cannabinoids is a multi billion dollar opportunity, and Cellibre isn’t alone.

A big opportunity..

The $1.98 billion dollar Canadian cannabis company Cronos Group is also focused on developing this technology.

To further their efforts to commercialize cultured cannabinoids, Cronos Group has announced they are licensing intellectual property from Aurora and 22nd Century Group.

Aurora’s connection to cultured cannabinoids is from the work completed by the company’s former CSO on the discovery of key genes within the cannabinoid biosynthesis pathway.

“Cronos Group has successfully commercialized the first cultured cannabinoid product in Canada.

Licensing this intellectual property provides us with a component of the process that could allow for increased speed and efficiency in the development and commercialization of cultured cannabinoids,” — Kurt Schmidt, CEO of Cronos Group.

Looking forward…

This is a very big opportunity to reinvent the way cannabinoids are produced.

If this were to become the standard way to produce the cannabinoids that are added to beverages, vapes and edibles then the environmental impact of the cannabis industry would be significantly reduced.

Additionally, the cannabis industry would have access to all 180+ cannabinoids we know of, as opposed to only having access to the less than 5 cannabinoids the cannabis industry currently has access to.

Our Take

Cultured cannabinoids were added to less than 1% of all the cannabis products that were purchased in 2021.

In the next 10 years, I think it’s likely this number will have risen to more than 70% of all cannabis products purchased globally.

The Bounty Of Benefits

Breaking down a new study on how cannabis helps reduce seizures…

The adult-use cannabis market continues to command significantly more attention relative to the medical cannabis market.

This is understandable given the number of people who can access adult-use cannabis vs the number of people who benefit from nations allowing access to medical cannabis.

The new study…

A new study in the United Kingdom is offering an important remainder of the medical proprieties cannabis has to offer.

Per the study’s findings, the number of epileptic seizures in children decreased an average of 86% when treated with whole plant cannabis.

Whole plant cannabis = a product that contains both CBD & THC.

Whole plant vs isolated cannabinoids…

On average, the children were given 5.15 milligrams of THC and 171.8 milligrams of CBD on a daily basis.

It’s important to note that this research was observational, with the parents of the children in question reporting the results from the changes made to the formulations of cannabis their children were receiving.

That said, the study still offers some very valuable insights as to how much more effective THC & CBD are as a combination as opposed to people solely consuming products that only contain CBD.

Per the results, just two of the ten children who participated in the study responded to Epidyolex — an isolated CBD product.

A last resort..

The unfortunate situation many parents living in the U.K find themselves in today is that they are required to exhaust all other options before having the means to access medical cannabis.

Consequently, the children who participated in this research had tried an average of seven conventional epilepsy drugs.

Worse yet, many parents have to absorb the cost of obtaining medical cannabis products with the average monthly cost of medicinal cannabis products amounting to $1,158 USD, with just 1 of the 10 children that participated in the study having obtained their prescription for free.

Our Take

The adult-use cannabis market would not exist if not for the efforts made by medical cannabis activists around the world.

The adult-use cannabis will continue to command significantly more attention vs the medical cannabis market, however, this study is an important reminder of the bounty of benefits cannabis has to offer.