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Leaders in Infused Products Manufacturing: Part 3

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Cannabis infused products manufacturing is quickly becoming a massive new market. With companies producing everything from gummies to lotions, there is a lot of room for growth as consumer data is showing a larger shift away from smokable products to ingestible or infused products.

This is the third article in a series where we interview leaders in the national infused products market. In this third piece, we talk with Liz Conway, Regional President of Florida at Parallel. Liz started with Parallel in 2019 after transitioning from her healthcare IT consulting practice. She now heads up Florida operations for Parallel which runs the Surterra Wellness brand.

Next week, we’ll sit down with Stephanie Gorecki, vice president of product development at Cresco Labs. Stay tuned for more!

Aaron Green: Liz, very nice to meet you. Can you tell me how did you get involved at Parallel?

Liz Conway: Well, I’ll give a little bit of background. Previously, I was working in healthcare technology and in that field, really coming out of health care reform. I was also living in Northern California and so was conscious of a bunch of startups that needed help with highly regulated spaces and policy and how to navigate both the today and the tomorrow of “Hey, we’re trying to build something super fast, but we’re not interfacing with government well enough to know how to build what we’re building and not be set back again.”

And so cannabis actually came to me. I started working with some early stage cannabis IT companies and I was the principal where I founded a firm to do this very thing, which was to help highly regulated companies get through what is today, what is tomorrow, and what can we change. I was really fortunate to be living in Northern California, and I started to help them navigate the California rules.

Then in 2016, when California went adult use, that was just a major time to turn everything on its head and see what we could get. From there, it was history. I started to work with companies, both nationally and in Canada, and met some of the folks with Parallel and was a consultant with them for a while and then joined the team.

Liz Conway, Regional President of Florida at Parallel

Aaron: So, are you in Florida now?

Liz: I relocated to Florida in January 2019.

Aaron: At Parallel, how do you think about differentiating in the market?

Liz: I think that we differentiate in terms of the quality of our product, of course, and I will speak specifically to Florida where our focus is still a medical market. Every day we are trying to manage the vertical from end-to-end so that we can get the products that our people want as quickly as possible over a vast territory. Well-being is such a critical ethos that everything we do comes down to, “alright, what does this mean for well-being and how are we delivering that both in the customer experience as well as in the product?”

Aaron: With regards to differentiation, can you speak to any products in particular that you feel are differentiated in the Florida market?

Liz: In the Florida market, I think that we were the first to launch thera-gels, and the thera-gels really are medicated jelly. You can use it sublingually, or take it as an oral to swallow. From that we developed thera-chews. That line, it’s really great tasting, it’s long lasting, and the effects are getting great reviews from the patients. So that’s one area that I think we distinguish ourselves and we’re a forerunner in the Florida market.

Aaron: So, if you take one of those products as an example, can you walk us through your process for creating a new product like that?

Liz: Well, so remembering that we’re part of companies in other states, because Parallel operates in Nevada, Massachusetts and in Texas. So, we’re not developing products on our own, but we certainly are doing Florida market analysis to say, what should come next, we are listening to our customers, we listen to our people, we’ve got 39 stores across the state. We have a number of employees who are always listening. We also have employees who are part of the medical program who are using the products to address different needs and they are looking at our competitors.

So, we’re doing some competitive analysis. We’re also knowing what it is that we’re really good at, and we take it through a product development lifecycle that involves testing because we are fully vertical. In Florida, we have to always ask ourselves are we able to do this end-to-end and thus far, we’ve been fortunate enough to either build or buy that capability.

Aaron: You mentioned there’s 39 stores in Florida? Are those dispensaries?

Liz: Yeah, they are our stores. There are other stores that other companies have, but we’re the second largest footprint in the state and all over from the very edges of Pensacola down to the Florida Keys, and then over to Miami and up through Tallahassee. So, covering really all corners in the state.

Aaron: Now, with those stores do you also market your products in other people’s stores?

Liz: No. The vertical really means that our stores only carry our own products. We’re marketed in Florida as Surterra Wellness and that’s the name of our stores. Anywhere you go that there’s a Surterra Wellness, you have the same product sets and we’re not allowed to sell other folks’ products. It’s a big difference between Florida and other states.

I’ll tell you one of the nice things is, when I have a product, I know that we grew it. I know every single quality step along the way. I don’t have to go and then look at other vendors and constantly monitor their quality. Everything that we do, we touched it from the very first moment hitting the ground. So it’s nice.

Aaron: Can you walk me through one of your most recent product launches? And if you can, the full lifecycle from the initial marketing briefing up to commercialization?

Liz: Well, I can do some of that. Speaking specifically about those thera-chews – that oral dosing mechanism – we’ve got it in a couple of different flavors. We said to ourselves, “hey, there’s a real need in this market for people to experience something that was like an edible, because Florida just launched edibles.” But we didn’t consider this as an edible because they weren’t allowed at that point. We knew from other states that particularly patients like to dose, you know, with something that is long lasting and flavorful. And so we said, “how can we bring this to market as an oral-dosing product?” And so we conceived the machinery that was able to do it. We had to do quite a bit of tooling.

Prior to that, we did some market testing from our customers and our associates as well as our brand team to say “is this going to be right? Can we bring it to market?” We did the projections around anticipated demand and program growth as well as the cost. We had to figure out what it would it take to adjust the machinery. Will it work? We did some pretty significant testing on that machinery and a lot of flavor testing.

We’re fortunate enough to have one of only four licensed kitchens that can do this kind of R&D in Florida. We’re licensed by the Department of Health for cannabis R&D on an edibles-type kitchen. So we were really fortunate to be able to do that to bring it to market. And from there, it really took on a life of its own. The flavors were tested across all of us (non-dosed flavors, obviously) and we voted on the best products to hit the shelves.

Aaron: When you’re making that decision, how much of the decision was weighted by market demand from your existing customers, and just observing other markets and seeing how products perform in other markets?

Liz: Data is not as prolific as I’d like it to be in cannabis. When you hit the edge of that state line, your consumer is very different, your stores are very different, your marketing capability is very different. So we really had to look across the US and say, “how are products like this performing? Is that how Florida is going to perform?” We did use that state-by-state evidence as well as our own evidence — the response to therapy gels — if we have thera-gels, what type are we selling in terms of dosage and flavors. There are slight differences there in effect-states. And so it was a little bit of both.

Aaron: Next question gets more into like the supply chain. How do you go about sourcing ingredients for your products?

Liz: So again, in a fully verticalized state, we have to source 100% of the active cannabinoid ingredients. Then we have an authorized vendor list that we’ve worked with for other things in terms of flavors and terpenes. Then we have to go back to the DoH to make sure that the other ingredients, whether that be sweeteners, or the kind of wrapping on those thera-gels are okay — the gelatin elements in particular.

“The Florida environment all day long is the biggest hurdle that I think we face.”We use an authorized vendor list. One of the great things that we’ve done recently is to focus our vendor list on minority women and veteran-owned businesses, and so really looking deep in the supply chain to source whatever we can from a diversity of suppliers. I love that original ethos of cannabis to be of the people, by the people and for the people, as well homegrown.

Aaron: Can you give me an example of a challenge that you run into frequently?

Liz: Well, I’ll say in Florida, if you’re growing your own cannabis, it’s way different than if you’re growing it in Colorado or California. So, I’m going to start there. The great news is that after Florida allowed us to start selling smokable flower last fall, we’ve come such a long way. We’ve got new indoor grow facilities. It’s making the environmental issues much, much lower.

“I think that the best thing that we can do is try to look five years ahead and ask what could this look like?”Bringing those on-line is going to bring a much more consistent consumer experience because while I know consumers have a lot of tolerance for variations in their cannabis, but as the industry matures, they’re going to treat us much more like other CPG companies. They’re not going to want that variation. Between that and then Florida’s new testing regulations which also are making sure that the product that’s delivered only meets what’s on the label.

The Florida environment all day long is the biggest hurdle that I think we face. The humidity is much higher here than in other states.

We’re also looking at live resin. What I am watching is the next generation. A lot of live products get us really close to the plant. We’ve done so much to pull out of the plant but where are we going to preserve that original plant in all of its most original formats without having to necessarily smoke the flower itself. We’re working with the Florida Department of Health to help them understand live resin products from a health standpoint.

Aaron: What trends are you following in the industry?

Liz: As you can imagine, as the regional president of a division that goes really end-to-end on monitoring trends in edibles and infused products, medical and recreational, I’m watching the election pretty closely. It will impact banking. It could potentially impact interstate commerce and it could potentially impact research.

I’m also watching things like HR trends, what’s happening in who we employ, our leadership, and how we deal with some of the emerging union issues around the country. I think that the best thing that we can do is try to look five years ahead and ask what could this look like? Where do we put our investment dollars now to meet the future, as well as where do we put our regulatory efforts for the best public policy to have the outcomes that we want consumers to trust us with? I know that’s a really broad answer, but from where I sit, it really is what I’m looking at, across a universe of excitement, but it includes challenges also.

Aaron: The last question is, what would you like to learn more about in the cannabis industry?

Liz: Well, of course, if I had a crystal ball, that would be great. I think the data is always missing. The more data that we could get, there’s so much out there that people are using cannabis for and we just don’t understand the impacts on how is this wonderful well-being product helping so many people because a lot of people don’t like to talk about it. So the more data about our consumers and what they like and what they don’t like, even across state lines, as we could aggregate that in a uniform way. I think it would help a lot of the people who are fearful of cannabis and it would help a lot of us who are in the business, get the consumers exactly spot on what they want, which at the end of the day is why we’re all here.

Aaron: Thank you Liz, that’s the end of the interview.

CBD & Delta-8-THC: What’s the Story?

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Even if you are only vaguely familiar with cannabis, chances are you’ve heard of cannabidiol (CBD) and delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) at one point or another. As research has progressed, new cannabinoids have been lifted into the spotlight, including delta-8 THC, the sister molecule to delta-9 THC.

Like delta-9, delta-8 is a psychoactive cannabinoid. The point of differentiation between the two compounds largely comes down to potency. While delta-9 can be incredibly strong, delta-8 has a lessened intoxicating effect. Additionally, initial research has supported beneficial medical properties for the treatment of epilepsy and nausea, with less euphoric effects than delta-9.[1, 2]

Within the span of a year, delta-8 has entered into the mind of consumers as a viable alternative to delta-9, which remains classified as a Schedule I substance per the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).

But what’s the full story with delta-8?

This question has become an important issue for business owners looking to include delta-8 in their products to meet growing market demand. Currently, the DEA labels synthetically derived delta-8 as illegal.

While delta-8-THC naturally occurs in the cannabis plant, it can also be created from hemp-derived CBD in a process known as isomerization. Thus, delta-8-THC derived from CBD appears to be legal under the current rules laid forth by the 2018 Farm Bill, which removes hemp from the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). The DEA’s Final Interim Rule recognizes the changes made by the 2018 Farm Bill and specifically targets delta-9 THC. However, one can never be too sure in a constantly changing legal landscape.

Since delta-8-THC research is still in its infancy, it remains to be seen how prevalent this up-and-coming cannabinoid will be in future CBD products. There also is the question of whether the government will change its rulings on delta-8-THC.

At this point in time, only time will be the judge of the final outcome of delta-8-THC.

Image Source: Pixabay

Image Credit: https://www.pexels.com/photo/spilled-bottle-of-yellow-capsule-pills-208518/

References

  1. Abrahamov A, et al. An efficient new cannabinoid antiemetic in pediatric oncology. Life Sci. 1995;56(23-24):2097-102.
  2. Colasanti BK, et al. Effects of marihuana cannabinoids on seizure activity in cobalt-epileptic rats. Pharmacol Biochem Behav. 1982;16(4):573-578.

California Universities Plan Wide-Ranging Cannabis Studies After Receiving Grant Funding from State

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Timing is tricky business in hemp and cannabis field farming. Plant too early, and farmers risk losing their crops to frost. Plant too late, and growers chance early maturation with suboptimal yields. 

It’s the reason The Hemp Mine, a hemp genetics and cannabidiol (CBD) company, created a virtual planting map to help growers make informed decisions about planting, testing and harvesting.

The map includes data points on average frost potential and daylength at different dates for nearly every county throughout the U.S. With this simple data, hemp and cannabis growers can not only make informed decisions about when to plant, which genetics to choose and when to start testing—they can also track their production schedule nearly down to the day.

But before delving into the map, it’s important for growers to understand photoperiodism.

READ MORE: How the Justice Family Transitioned Into Hemp

Photoperiod Primer

Cannabis and hemp are traditionally photoperiodic, meaning a certain amount of time in darkness will trigger them to flower. The number of hours needed in darkness, otherwise called a flowering response time, varies among different varieties. (This is not the case for autoflowering varieties, which will flower after a certain amount of time regardless of day and night length.)

Travis Higginbotham, an owner of The Hemp Mine, explains that cannabis falls into the short-day plant category, meaning it flowers when the night lengths meet or exceed its flowering response time—in other words, it needs long days followed by short days.

“This transition from a long day to a short day initiates flowering and causes the plant to go from vegetative growth to reproductive growth,” Higginbotham says.

Each breeder should provide the specific flowering response time of a variety down to the minute. (If not, Higginbotham suggests asking. This information is crucial.)

A variety’s flowering response time comes into play heavily when looking at The Hemp Mine’s data map.

Using The Map to Decide When to Plant

Using data from The Hemp Mine’s map, farmers can decide the best time to plant based on their genetics. This consists of a delicate balancing act between frost dates, daylength and how long growers want their crop to remain in a vegetative state.

“In the field, you don’t have the ability to manipulate lighting like you do in a greenhouse or an indoor environment, so you have to strategically plan your production outdoors so that you maximize the environment at the location where you are,” Higginbotham says.

First, farmers should look at frost potential. (This is indicated on The Hemp Mine’s map as DATEPERCENTAGE: For example, DATE10% on 5/22 would mean there is a 10% chance of frost on May 22.)

Farmers need to keep this in mind as they then examine day length. (This is indicated on the map in relation to frost potential as DLPERCENTAGE: For example, DL10% of 14.68 would mean on the same date that the frost potential is 10%, the day length is 14.68 hours.)

Higginbotham explains that farmers should only plant when potential for frost is low and when daylength is above that flowering response time. This protects the plant while allowing it to remain in a vegetative state in its early stages so it can bulk up and ultimately prepare to burst with buds. 

Farmers should look at one more data point before they decide when to plant, Higginbotham says: the date when the day length does meet that flowering response time. (This information is not available on the map but is easily found through an online search.) This will determine how long the crop remains in a vegetative state and exactly when it will begin to flower. The longer a hemp or cannabis crop remains in its vegetative state, the more yield it will ultimately produce.

As an example, The Hemp Mine’s Southern Cat Daddy cultivar has a flowering response time of 14 hours. This means farmers growing that variety should choose to plant it when the day length is longer than 14 hours. Also, farmers working with that variety should examine when the day length dips beneath 14 hours to know when it will start flowering.

Other Uses

Using these data points on frost potential and daylength, farmers can determine a plethora of other key factors to drive decisions. 

This information can help farmers choose genetics, as day lengths vary throughout the country. To maximize yield, farmers should choose genetics that allow their crop to stay in a vegetative state long enough to bulk the plant to the yields they’re aiming for. This can ultimately be determined through trial and error, but several weeks in a vegetative state serves as a rough benchmark for beginner growers. 

“Ultimately what dictates the yield per plant outdoors is the length of vegetative growth and light accumulation during flowering,” Higginbotham says.

Frost potential and day length can also help farmers determine when to begin testing their crop, as they can pinpoint the exact day the crop will start flowering. Higginbotham recommends hemp growers specifically test their crops several times throughout the flowering stage to remain in compliance with the 0.3% THC limit, which will also ultimately determine when they harvest.

And, while much of this data focuses on hemp flowering, Higginbotham says this data can also be useful to hemp farmers growing photoperiodic grain and fiber varieties as well. 

“This little piece of data is really something that can help any [cannabis] grower or breeder,” Higginbotham says. “It truly allows you to put a day-by-day schedule on paper.” 

The Hemp Mine has a video further detailing photoperiodism and how to use the map here.

Certain CBD oils no better than pure CBD at inhibiting certain cancer cell lines

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Cannabidiol (CBD) oils are equally or less effective at inhibiting the growth of certain cancer cells compared to pure CBD, according to Penn State College of Medicine researchers. The results of their recent study indicate that future research into the clinical applications of cannabinoids should include an analysis of whether the pure cannabinoid compound or intact plant material is more effective at achieving the therapeutic effect.

HERSHEY, Pa. — Cannabidiol (CBD) oils are equally or less effective at inhibiting the growth of certain cancer cells compared to pure CBD, according to Penn State College of Medicine researchers. The results of their recent study indicate that future research into the clinical applications of cannabinoids should include an analysis of whether the pure cannabinoid compound or intact plant material is more effective at achieving the therapeutic effect.

The researchers evaluated whether CBD oils were better than pure CBD at inhibiting the growth of different cancer cell lines. They studied brain, skin and colorectal cancers — using two cell lines for each cancer type — and found that pure CBD was able to reduce cell viability in three of the six cell lines tested and that the effect was cell line specific and not specific to select cancers. None of the CBD oils tested were able to reduce viability to a greater extent than pure CBD.

Prior research found that CBD or tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) can reduce cancer cell viability in some cancer cell models. Proponents of medical marijuana argue that there is an additive effect between the various compounds in the plant material that increases its therapeutic efficacy compared to individual, pure cannabinoid compounds. Kent Vrana, professor and chair of the Department of Pharmacology, said the study did not support this concept, known as the “entourage” effect.

“Based on our results, we recommend that specific investigations on the entourage effect be carried out when determining the therapeutic uses of medical marijuana and other cannabinoid products,” Vrana said.

Wesley Raup-Konsavage, co-author of the study published in the journal Medical Cannabis and Cannabinoids, said the study was carefully designed so that the amounts of CBD oil used for testing had an equivalent amount of CBD as the pure CBD in the experiments. The researchers obtained three types of CBD oil with certificates of analysis and had their composition verified by a third party laboratory. Equal concentrations of CBD were used to treat the six cell lines.

After evaluating the viability of the treated cell lines, researchers determined that the CBD had an effect on one of each of the colorectal cancer, melanoma and glioblastoma cell lines tested. The viability of the other cell lines tested was not significantly reduced.

Because a previous study evaluating the use of THC for treating breast cancer cells suggested that there is an entourage effect in that context, Vrana cautioned that careful testing of cannabinoids should be done for each proposed therapeutic context.

“Pure CBD had the ability to reduce certain cancer cell types’ viability in this study,” Vrana said. “It would be reckless for a consumer to assume that a CBD oil product off the shelf could have the same effects for them, which is why careful studies around the entourage effect are needed for each intended therapeutic application.”

Vrana said that even if there were cases where the entourage effect were proven for therapeutic uses, cannabinoid products are unregulated and consumers would not be able to know in many cases whether an off-the-shelf or off-the-street product had the right components to result in the desired therapeutic outcome.

“The variability in composition and activities of botanical extracts highlights difficulties in assessing their therapeutic potential compared to pure chemical compounds,” Vrana said. Raup-Konsavage and Vrana plan to continue investigating the “entourage” effect of cannabinoids in other therapeutic applications.

Nurgul Carkaci-Salli of Penn State College of Medicine and Kelly Greenland and Robert Gearhart of Keystone State Testing LLC also contributed to this research.

The research was supported by PA Options for Wellness, a Pennsylvania-approved medical marijuana clinical registrant. Penn State College of Medicine is a Pennsylvania-approved Academic Clinical Research Center. The funder had no involvement in study design, data collection, analysis and interpretation or the writing of the report.

Original Article: https://news.psu.edu/story/638230/2020/11/17/research/certain-cbd-oils-no-better-pure-cbd-inhibiting-certain-cancer-cell

The Cannabis Industry, After the Election

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While the 2020 Presidential election didn’t exactly end up in a clear landslide victory for the Democrats, there is one group that did well: the cannabis industry.

The results clearly show that the expansion of cannabis is a recognizable part of today’s society across the United States. States like New Jersey, for example, partly thanks to New York and Pennsylvania—which already allow the use of medical cannabis—traffic will start to force the state of New York’s hand and that’s a big chunk of the population of the Northeast.

If the question of legalization was on the ballot, it was an issue that overwhelmingly succeeded in delivering a clear mandate. Adult use of cannabis passed handily in Arizona, Montana, South Dakota and as mentioned above, New Jersey, and was approved for medical use in Mississippi and South Dakota. 

With only 15 states remaining in the union that still outlaw the use of cannabis in any form, the new reality for the industry is here. All of these outcomes show promise as the industry’s recognition is growing. 

Election outcomes and the position of the average American on cannabis

Americans are definitely understanding, appreciating and using cannabis more and more. It is becoming a part of everyday life and this election’s results could be the tipping point that normalizes the adult use of cannabis. It is becoming more widely understood as an effective and acceptable means to help manage stress and anxiety, aid in sleep and general overall wellbeing. 

Voters in New Jersey overwhelmingly passed their adult use measure

This image of cannabis is aided by the many different forms of consumption that exist now: edibles, transdermal, nano tech, etc. No longer does a consumer have to smoke—which isn’t accepted in many circles—to get the beneficial effects of cannabis. 

Knowledge expansion is going to move these products across state lines and eventually, the federal government will have to take notice.

Do Democrats and Republicans view cannabis through the same lens?

Cannabis is and will always be state specific. Republicans in general tend to be a little bit more cautious and there are a lot of pundits who believe that as long as the Republicans control the senate, there isn’t much of a chance for federal legalization.  

President-Elect Joe Biden & Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris

There is some hope, however, that the industry will get support from the Biden administration. While President-Elect Biden has been on record as being against legalization of cannabis at a federal level, even he will eventually see that the train has left the station and momentum continues to build. In fact, Biden’s tone has changed considerably while he running for president, adding cannabis decriminalization to the Biden-Harris campaign platform.

Ultimately, how cannabis is viewed from each side of the aisle matters less than how it is viewed at the state level. 

Cannabis reform under Biden

Biden had an opportunity to legalize cannabis federally in the U.S. during the Obama administration and it didn’t happen. It’s clear that the mandates of the Biden-Harris administration are going to be overwhelmed by current issues, at least in the beginning: COVID-19, the economy and climate change, to name but three.

What will be interesting is if the Biden-Harris administration goes to greater lengths to decriminalize cannabis. For example, cannabis is still a Schedule 1 drug on the books, which puts it in the same class as heroin. Biden couldn’t unilaterally remove cannabis from all scheduling, but his government could reschedule it to reduce the implications of its use.  

This could, however, create more problems than it solves: 

“It’s generally understood, then, that rescheduling weed would blow up the marijuana industry’s existing model, of state-licensed businesses that are not pharmacies selling cannabis products, that are not Food and Drug Administration-reviewed and approved, to customers who are not medical patients.

Biden rescheduling cannabis “would only continue the state-federal conflict, and force both state regulators and businesses to completely reconfigure themselves, putting many people out of business and costing states significant time and money,” as Morgan Fox, chief spokesperson for the National Cannabis Industry Association, said in an email on Monday.” (Source) 

In reality however, there is little chance that Biden will spend any political capital that he has, particularly if the Senate remains in Republican control, dealing with the legalization of adult use cannabis.

What needs to happen for legalization to become a reality

Outside of the law, if Trump suddenly decided to legalize adult use cannabis before leaving the White House, the states would still need to agree on issues such as possession, transportation, shipment and taxation.  

It’s clear that further normalization of cannabis use is required—which will likely take a good couple of years—in order for it to become as understood and as simple as wine, liquor or cigarettes.

Beyond that, it’s Congress that dictated that cannabis be illegal at the federal level and it will have to be Congress that makes the decision to change that. Even the Supreme Court has been reluctant to get involved in the question, believing this to be an issue that should be dealt within the House.

What does all of this mean for investment in the cannabis industry?

Cannabis should be part of most long-term investors’ portfolios. Like a group of stocks in a healthy market with the right balance sheets, cannabis is an expanding industry and growth is there.  

Whether or not this is specifically the right time to invest, it’s always important to evaluate each stock or each company individually, from the point of view of the merits of the investment and investment objectives, as well as risk tolerance perspectives.  

There isn’t any unique or special place to buy into the cannabis industry, unless it is connected to some new real estate or other opportunity that is COVID-19 related. This moment in time isn’t really any different from any other when it comes to the opportunity to own some cannabis stocks. It’s always a good time.

The short term returns of this market shouldn’t be speculated upon. There are just way more factors than the fundamentals of a company that will affect the short-term play. The country is in a transition of power, in addition to much international change taking place that can also contribute to returns in the short term, making speculation unhelpful.

The cannabis market in 2021

The cannabis industry is likely to continue to expand and grow with the select companies acquiring more and more and getting back to their cash flow. Some companies will slowly be going out of business and/or will be acquired by others going into a certain consolidation period of time. Whatever the outcomes in specific tourism dominated markets, the industry as a whole can really go in one direction. 

Massachusetts Cannabis Retailers Prepare to Sue Over State’s Delivery Rules

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Timing is tricky business in hemp and cannabis field farming. Plant too early, and farmers risk losing their crops to frost. Plant too late, and growers chance early maturation with suboptimal yields. 

It’s the reason The Hemp Mine, a hemp genetics and cannabidiol (CBD) company, created a virtual planting map to help growers make informed decisions about planting, testing and harvesting.

The map includes data points on average frost potential and daylength at different dates for nearly every county throughout the U.S. With this simple data, hemp and cannabis growers can not only make informed decisions about when to plant, which genetics to choose and when to start testing—they can also track their production schedule nearly down to the day.

But before delving into the map, it’s important for growers to understand photoperiodism.

READ MORE: How the Justice Family Transitioned Into Hemp

Photoperiod Primer

Cannabis and hemp are traditionally photoperiodic, meaning a certain amount of time in darkness will trigger them to flower. The number of hours needed in darkness, otherwise called a flowering response time, varies among different varieties. (This is not the case for autoflowering varieties, which will flower after a certain amount of time regardless of day and night length.)

Travis Higginbotham, an owner of The Hemp Mine, explains that cannabis falls into the short-day plant category, meaning it flowers when the night lengths meet or exceed its flowering response time—in other words, it needs long days followed by short days.

“This transition from a long day to a short day initiates flowering and causes the plant to go from vegetative growth to reproductive growth,” Higginbotham says.

Each breeder should provide the specific flowering response time of a variety down to the minute. (If not, Higginbotham suggests asking. This information is crucial.)

A variety’s flowering response time comes into play heavily when looking at The Hemp Mine’s data map.

Using The Map to Decide When to Plant

Using data from The Hemp Mine’s map, farmers can decide the best time to plant based on their genetics. This consists of a delicate balancing act between frost dates, daylength and how long growers want their crop to remain in a vegetative state.

“In the field, you don’t have the ability to manipulate lighting like you do in a greenhouse or an indoor environment, so you have to strategically plan your production outdoors so that you maximize the environment at the location where you are,” Higginbotham says.

First, farmers should look at frost potential. (This is indicated on The Hemp Mine’s map as DATEPERCENTAGE: For example, DATE10% on 5/22 would mean there is a 10% chance of frost on May 22.)

Farmers need to keep this in mind as they then examine day length. (This is indicated on the map in relation to frost potential as DLPERCENTAGE: For example, DL10% of 14.68 would mean on the same date that the frost potential is 10%, the day length is 14.68 hours.)

Higginbotham explains that farmers should only plant when potential for frost is low and when daylength is above that flowering response time. This protects the plant while allowing it to remain in a vegetative state in its early stages so it can bulk up and ultimately prepare to burst with buds. 

Farmers should look at one more data point before they decide when to plant, Higginbotham says: the date when the day length does meet that flowering response time. (This information is not available on the map but is easily found through an online search.) This will determine how long the crop remains in a vegetative state and exactly when it will begin to flower. The longer a hemp or cannabis crop remains in its vegetative state, the more yield it will ultimately produce.

As an example, The Hemp Mine’s Southern Cat Daddy cultivar has a flowering response time of 14 hours. This means farmers growing that variety should choose to plant it when the day length is longer than 14 hours. Also, farmers working with that variety should examine when the day length dips beneath 14 hours to know when it will start flowering.

Other Uses

Using these data points on frost potential and daylength, farmers can determine a plethora of other key factors to drive decisions. 

This information can help farmers choose genetics, as day lengths vary throughout the country. To maximize yield, farmers should choose genetics that allow their crop to stay in a vegetative state long enough to bulk the plant to the yields they’re aiming for. This can ultimately be determined through trial and error, but several weeks in a vegetative state serves as a rough benchmark for beginner growers. 

“Ultimately what dictates the yield per plant outdoors is the length of vegetative growth and light accumulation during flowering,” Higginbotham says.

Frost potential and day length can also help farmers determine when to begin testing their crop, as they can pinpoint the exact day the crop will start flowering. Higginbotham recommends hemp growers specifically test their crops several times throughout the flowering stage to remain in compliance with the 0.3% THC limit, which will also ultimately determine when they harvest.

And, while much of this data focuses on hemp flowering, Higginbotham says this data can also be useful to hemp farmers growing photoperiodic grain and fiber varieties as well. 

“This little piece of data is really something that can help any [cannabis] grower or breeder,” Higginbotham says. “It truly allows you to put a day-by-day schedule on paper.” 

The Hemp Mine has a video further detailing photoperiodism and how to use the map here.

NCIA Publishes Environmental Sustainability Recommendations

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Earlier this week, the National Cannabis Industry Association (NCIA) published its recommendations for improving environmental sustainability in the cannabis industry. The report, titled Environmental Sustainability in the Cannabis Industry: Impacts, Best Management Practices, and Policy Considerations, was developed by their Policy Council along with experts in the field of environmental sustainability.

The 58-page report is quite comprehensive and covers things like land use, soil health, water, energy, air quality, waste and the negative effects of an unregulated market. While the report goes into great detail on specific environmental policy considerations, like recycling, water usage, energy efficiency and more, it makes a handful of overarching policy recommendations that impact environmental sustainability on a much more macro level.

The report mentions developing a platform for sharing information in the national cannabis industry. The idea here is that information sharing on a national scale for things like energy use can be used as a communication tool for regulators as well as a tool for companies to collaborate and share ideas.

The second more overarching policy recommendation the NCIA makes in this report is “to incorporate environmental best practices and regulatory requirements into existing marijuana licensing and testing processes.” This would help streamline and unify regulations already in place and keeps sustainability in the discussion from the very start.

The last major policy recommendation they make is for incentive programs. They say that governments should incentivize cannabis businesses to operate more sustainably and “prioritize funds provided to businesses where barriers exist to entering the market, such as small- or minority-owned businesses.” The report adds that this could essentially kill two birds with one stone by promoting environmental sustainability and diversity at the same time.

Kaitlin Urso is the lead author of the report and executive project and engagement manager for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. She says that these policy recommendations were designed to benefit everyone. “A successful, socially responsible cannabis industry will require best practices for environmental sustainability. This paper is a vital first step in that effort,” says Urso. “This is important, ongoing work that will benefit everyone. The NCIA’s paper on environmental sustainability is going to inform how we approach important questions related to the future of the cannabis industry.”

To read the report in its entirety, click here.

Georgia Now Accepting Cannabis Cultivation Applications

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New Jersey, despite its left-leaning politics and proximity to one of the world’s largest urban centers, has lagged behind in cannabis. As the 11th-largest state in the country by population, New Jersey has fewer than 14 medical cannabis dispensaries serving close to 100,000 patients. Possession of marijuana was just decriminalized there last year.

Garden State cannabis also has a racial equity problem. Black residents are between two and three times more likely to be arrested for possession of marijuana despite relatively equal rates of use across races. In some counties, Black people are arrested over 30 times more frequently for cannabis, according to a 2020 report from the ACLU of New Jersey.

New Jersey passed legalization in November’s election by a landslide—more than two in three voters approved. But state cannabis advocates are now calling out serious shortcomings in the proposed A-21/S-21 bill, saying it doesn’t do enough to address the harsh repercussions of the drug war and will keep minority and disadvantaged small businesses from participating in the upcoming industry. 

What’s in (and not in) A-21/S-21?

“[The bill] has been introduced as the most progressive cannabis legislation in the country yet it falls short of substantive social equity provisions seen in other states,” said Jessica Gonzalez, General Counsel for Minorities for Medical Marijuana (M4MM), in an email to Cannabis Business Times and Cannabis Dispensary.

“The bill is riddled with vague language and predatory programs aimed at minority communities while increasing the barriers to entry,” said Gonzalez. Specifically, she identified five points where it falls short:

  • Lack of allocation of cannabis tax revenue to communities harmed by prohibition. For contrast, consider Illinois, where the Restore, Reinvest, and Renew program (R3) uses 25% of state cannabis tax revenue to provide community grants. 

  • Limited definitions of “impact zones.” These are defined as cities or towns with 120,000 or more residents who rank in the top 40% of cities with the most arrests for possession. Dispensaries will open in these areas first, and some lawmakers have suggested allocating tax revenue from cannabis to impact zone grants.

  • Specifically earmarking tax revenue for law enforcement training. The bill includes language that would use cannabis tax money to train designated police officers as “Drug Recognition Experts,” who will serve to “detect, identify, and apprehend drug-impaired motor vehicle operators.”  

There are other issues. Brandon McKoy, president and chief executive at the New Jersey Policy Perspective, recently wrote that the bill’s proposal to allow just 28 state cultivation licenses would “undermine racial equality and privilege larger corporations at the expense of other applications.”

Gonzalez urged the state to go further in defining qualifications for social equity. “The statute must explicitly outline the requirements for a ‘social equity applicant’ and statutorily mandate the Cannabis Regulatory Commission to create a social equity program to assist these communities in the areas of technical assistance, financial assistance, education, etc.

“In the same vein, the statute must also mandate that a portion of the tax revenue collected be specifically earmarked for the funding of equity programming within the Office of Minorities, Disabled Veterans and Womens Cannabis Development,” she added.

“New Jersey lawmakers have shown they have not really looked at the failures and shortfalls of other states’ attempts to provide reconciliation and equity to those harmed by the war on drugs,” said Tauhid Chappell, executive board member at the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists and founder of the CannAtlantic cannabis conference.

Chappell also pointed out the legislation’s optional Social Equity Excise Fee, a sliding scale in which the fee goes up as the price goes down, an appetizing condition for large MSOs with the corporate cash reserves to absorb these taxes. 

What happens next?

The situation is still developing. According to NBC Philadelphia, New Jersey’s State Assembly and Senate both canceled meetings scheduled for Monday, Nov. 23, that were partially devoted to ironing out these issues. The next scheduled legislative meeting is Dec. 7.

In the meantime, those working to provide fair access to everyone in the state are seeking help. 

“I am asking them [New Jersey residents] once again to use their voice to speak up against the lack of social equity initiatives in the proposed legislation,” said Gonzalez. “There will be additional Senate and Assembly Committee meetings in the upcoming weeks where folks will have the opportunity to provide oral or written testimony.”

“We need a lot of help and support here,” agreed Chappell. “The window is limited.” He encouraged residents in existing recreational cannabis markets to provide testimony to help lawmakers in New Jersey avoid making the same social equity mistakes made in their state.

“This is not the time to kick back and wait for legalization to come,” advised Gonzalez. “This is the time to get louder with our demands to ensure legalization is equitable. … I highly recommend reviewing the video of the Assembly Committee meeting that took place on November 9th available on the state legislative website. It’s time we all step into the arena.

Leaders in Infused Products Manufacturing: Part 4

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Cannabis infused products manufacturing is quickly becoming a massive new market. With companies producing everything from gummies to lotions, there is a lot of room for growth as consumer data is showing a larger shift away from smokable products to ingestible or infused products.

This is the fourth article in a series where we interview leaders in the national infused products market. In this third piece, we talk with Stephanie Gorecki, vice president of product development at Cresco Labs. Stephanie started with Cresco in 2019 after transitioning from an award-winning career in traditional foods CPG. She now heads up product development where she manages R&D for Cresco, a multi-state operation with tremendous SKU variety.

Next week, we’ll sit down with Lisa McClung and Glenn Armstrong from Coda Signature. Stay tuned for more!

Aaron Green: Stephanie, how did you get involved at Cresco Labs?

Stephanie Gorecki: A few years ago, CBD became the most talked about ingredient in the food industry. CBD-infused food headlines appeared in most of the trade magazines. I have always been curious about working in the cannabis space, and not just with CBD, but THC and other cannabinoids. I researched technical seminars and came across the cannabis infused edibles short course put on by the Institute of Food Technologists.

Stephanie Gorecki, Vice President of Product Development at Cresco Labs

I attended the short course in April of 2019. I realized that to be hands-on with cannabis in the near future, I would need to join an organization that was already in the space. The space was highly regulated which meant that research in the mainstream food and beverage space was limited.

Immediately following that seminar, I began to look for opportunities near where I lived. That’s when I came across the Cresco Labs career opportunity. The Director of Food Science position appeared to be a good match. I applied for the position and went through the interview process. Approximately two months after attending that seminar, I joined Cresco Labs.

Aaron: Awesome! It’s a cool story. In your role, how do you think about developing products that differentiate in the market?

Stephanie: There are many opportunities for brand differentiation in cannabis right now. There is a focus on high bioavailability and water solubility and how that translates to onset times once consumed. Many of these technologies utilize ingredient technologies and systems that I have experience with from my past work in the flavor industry.

Gummies and jellies are a great infusion matrix to start with because of their shelf-life stability. There are a variety of formulation techniques that can be used to deliver on product differentiations. There is an abundance of flavor varieties, colors, processing steps and cannabinoid ratios that can be baked into a formula to make that product line unique.

Here in the cannabis space, SKU variety is essential. It’s exciting to be a part of a company where we develop products that appeal to a variety of customer wants and needs.

Aaron: In that vein, what’s your process then for creating a new product?

Stephanie: I’ll start with how we develop an edible. Most of my background is in this type of product development, but the same process is applied to how we develop and extract vape, topical, flower SKU, or ready-to-smoke type products. We follow a similar stage/gate process utilized by most CPG companies.

Marketing typically presents our product development team with a brief on a new concept based on how they’ve read the needs of the market. There are opportunities for us to come to marketing with ideas for innovation, too. The product development team regularly works in our processing facility, so we as a team are aware of the different capabilities of each state and production line. During the briefing phase, we determine what is needed to be achieved and the parameters that the team would like the new product to deliver on.

For edibles, we begin our development work at The Hatchery. The Hatchery is our non-infused product development space that we utilize outside of our processing facility. In this space, we have several pieces of pilot equipment that allow us to scale and create prototypes that are highly representative of what our finished product will look like. For vapes, flower SKUs and RTS (ready-to-smoke) products, development and processing trials happen within our cultivation center.

All infusions are conducted in our licensed processing center. We also conduct stability testing and analytical testing in-house on our products. Our analytical lab is amazing – we have talented chemists and the ability to run GCMS, HPLC, microbiological testing, and many other analytical tests that are important for ensuring consistency and product uniformity.

Aaron: Can you expand on a point about testing? How do you think about testing at the different points in your manufacturing or production process?

Stephanie: Testing comes in several forms. We focus heavily on analytical testing since that does not involve product consumption. Potency uniformity and consistency is critical for edibles. For infused products, we have one shot at hitting our potency – infusion science is extremely important for us. Our gummies and chocolates cannot be re-worked, so hitting our potency range on the first attempt is important. If we miss the target, the product has to be destroyed.

We have methods developed to conduct in-process potency testing where we can. With the processes and infusion methods that we have implemented, we are rarely outside of our targeted potency ranges.

Aaron: Okay, awesome, then, can you walk me through your experience with one of your most recent product launches?

Stephanie: We recently launched Mindy’s Dark Chocolate Peppermint Bark, a limited time offering for our Mindy’s chocolate line. There’s a series of commercialization trials that we will conduct prior to launch. We use these trials as an opportunity to train our production teams on the new manufacturing instructions and processes.

When it comes to launching products, our technical teams are very hands on with new product introductions. Since we cannot manufacture product in one state and ship it to another state, we have to build processing centers and secure the proper licenses in every state that we’d like to operate in. When we have a new product ready to launch in a new state, our team works with Operations on the tech transfer piece. We’re there on-site during launches to oversee and train on the entire process until our teams are comfortable with manufacturing and packaging the new SKUs.

We monitor launches carefully to ensure product looks as it should before and after leaving our facility for sale in licensed dispensaries across the state. When there are opportunities to optimize a process post-launch, we will do what we can to make the process work as well as possible for the teams producing our products.

Aaron: Okay, so next question is, how do you go about sourcing ingredients for your infused products?

Stephanie: We manufacture our oils and extracts in house, and then source other ingredients externally. We have a supplier quality assurance process for new supplier approval, and we have documentation needs that we need each supplier to be able to deliver on.

Several of our suppliers have invested in research and development of products that will help us to meet our deliverables in the cannabis industry. Our suppliers, at times, have provided applications support in order to help with our speed to market and early phase prototyping. These types of partnerships are essential to us being able to make quick modifications and decisions on ingredients such as flavors and colors.

Aaron: Can you give me an example of a challenge that you run into frequently? This could be a business challenge or a cannabis-related challenge.

 “I’m a scientist at heart. I look forward to more spending on cannabis research to show how THC and other cannabinoids can be used to treat a variety of conditions.”Stephanie: A big challenge for us and other multi-state cannabis operators are the variations in compliance regulations state-to-state. We have compliance managers in every state who work to ensure we are meeting all of the state regulations. Our packaging reviews are in-depth because of all the language that needs to be included on our packaging.

Each state needs its own packaging with proper compliance labeling. Some states require a cannabis warning symbol of a certain type. If we sell Mindy’s Gummies in 8 flavors and THC mg SKUs in four states, that is 32 different pieces of artwork that need to be managed and cross-checked for accuracy. We have 32 separate pieces of packaging for this one line of products. We have many lines of products with multiples strains (flower and vapes) and flavors (edibles).

Aaron: You mentioned packaging, do you do all of your packaging in house?

Stephanie: We design our packaging artwork in-house. We have a creative team who works on our product artwork, and then a team of cross-functional members tasked with packaging editing and review. Packaging reviews go through multiple rounds before being released for printing. We source a variety of packaging depending on the needs of the product going into the packaging. For edibles, our packaging has to be opaque. Product cannot be seen through the packaging in most states. This is great for our products that are made with natural colors that may be light sensitive.

All of our packaging needs to be child resistant. This limits the amount of packaging variety that we have, but this is a big opportunity for packaging developers. We want and need more sustainable forms of packaging that are differentiated from other packaging forms currently on the market.

Aaron: What trends are you following in the industry personally?

Stephanie: Cannabis trends that are of interest to me personally are fast-onset and water solubility technology. There have also been many discussions surrounding minor cannabinoids and how those can be blended together to drive customer experience.

There are traditional food trends that also impact how we formulate. Our Mindy’s Edibles line is flavor forward. The flavors are sophisticated. In the Mindy’s line, you won’t find a generic orange or grape flavor. Instead, you’ll find a Lush Black Cherry or Cool Key Lime Kiwi Flavor. This flavor development work starts with Mindy Segal, who is the face and talented James Beard award-winning chef behind our Mindy’s Edibles line of products.

Aaron: Okay, so the last question I have for you is, what are you interested in learning more about?

Stephanie: I’m a scientist at heart. I look forward to more spending on cannabis research to show how THC and other cannabinoids can be used to treat a variety of conditions. People use cannabis for many reasons: to relax, to ease aches or pains, etc. It’s exciting to lead part of our technical team during a period of time where cannabis is rapidly growing and is of great interest and increasing acceptance across our country and in the world.

Aaron: Okay. So that’s it. That’s the end of the interview!

Sleep and CBN: What we really know about the buzzy cannabis compound

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The information contained in this article is not a substitute for, or alternative to information from a healthcare practitioner. Please consult a healthcare professional before using any product and check your local laws before making any purchasing decisions.

As soon as my head hits the pillow on stressful nights, my brain becomes a windy race track, thoughts zooming by at 100 mph, commanding my attention. I wanted it to stop.

So for months I tried various cannabis products promising better sleep, hoping that one of them could serve as a red light and stop the buzzy traffic, at least until morning.

The products I used all included CBN, one of the hundreds of compounds found in cannabis. While CBD and THC are the plant’s most famous three-letter shorthands, wellness brands and pharmaceutical companies are hunting for the next cannabinoid with medicinal and money-making potential. Cannabis companies hope CBN, which has a reputation as a sleep aid (although one not supported by scientific research), may be one of them.

While I had some success, none of the products I tried with CBN, formally known as cannabinol, worked exactly as I wanted. When they did work, I slept hard, but my deep sleep often ended with groggy mornings. When they didn’t work, I continued to toss and turn. Whether a CBN product will help you get a better night’s sleep depends on what else is in that product, your tolerance for groggy mornings, and how willing you are to experiment.

What is CBN, and why is it associated with sleep anyway?

People in the cannabis industry have been whispering about CBN for years. And scientific research on it, although limited and rarely related to sleep, goes back to the 1970s. The compound comes from . Over time, exposure to light and oxygen will convert THC into CBN. You can also use chemical processes to turn CBD, hemp’s golden goose, into CBN, but it’s a more complicated process.

Dr. Ethan Russo, a neurologist who popularized , the idea that various parts of the cannabis plant work synergistically together to cause certain effects, explains it like this: Let’s say someone has cannabis that’s been sitting in a drawer for three years and decides to smoke it. If they’re looking to get high, they’re going to be disappointed with the outcome.

“So the person may feel sleepy or sad, but they’re not going to be high, and they’re not going to be cleaning the garage after doing this,” said Dr. Russo, who once advised the first company to get a CBD drug for epilepsy approved by the FDA, but has since founded a cannabis research firm called Credo Science.

Those effects don’t just come from the THC-turned-CBN, he said. Aromatic compounds that give plants and foods a particular smell and taste, known as terpenes, also play a part. Terpenes are in mangoes, peppermint, lemongrass, and yes, cannabis. In addition to their aromatic qualities, some terpenes tend to be energizing while others are sedating. Over time, the energizing ones dissipate from old weed while the relaxing ones stick around as they’re heavier, more stable molecular compounds. While THC is generally known to make you feel high, CBN isn’t as psychoactive on its own as THC, Dr. Russo said.

“If someone uses pure CBN, they’re not going to find it particularly sedating,” said Dr. Russo, who doesn’t take much stock in the compound’s new cache as a sleep aid.

What do the studies say?

Researchers have studied CBN’s effects on many mice and rats over the years, but few humans. They’ve found it seems to make ,  when combined with CBD, reduce , and a lab-altered version significantly  for mice already on a powerful sedative. One Canadian pharmaceutical company is in clinical trials to test if a CBN cream can treat . Like other parts of the cannabis plant, scientists are also studying its  potential.

In one of the few studies that compares THC and CBN, completed , scientists gave five men oral THC and CBN and found that while THC made the volunteers feel “drugged, drunk, dizzy, or drowsy,” the same feelings weren’t associated with CBN. CBN appeared to slightly amplify the effects of THC, but it wasn’t a significant change. The experience of lab rats and five men, of course, aren’t enough to make sweeping judgments about CBN, but that and anecdotes are all we got at the moment.

For all the talk about CBN’s sedative qualities, the scientific research isn’t there to back it up. Even with its well-known counterparts CBD and THC, which have been tested more often for possible sleep effects, scientists still say more research should be done to better guide consumers.

Formal research on CBN, and other cannabinoids, has been hampered for decades due to politics stigmatizing cannabis. As marijuana legalization expands, more research is underway, but the spotlight has mostly been on THC and CBD. New questions are being asked about the hundreds of other cannabinoids, but it’s still early days.

Steep Hill, a cannabis science and tech company, stoked a lot of the hype around CBN online when it likened CBN to the powerful sedative diazepam. Steep Hill later scrubbed that description from its website, noting, “Initially, it was reported that CBN was a promising adjunct in the treatment of insomnia, but with the advent of a few small trials, sedative qualities have not been observed.”

​A ​Steep Hill ​representative said its science team was unavailable to clarify which trials the update was referring to as it was moving facilities.

So did the CBN products make me sleepy?

None of the products I tried were pure CBN, which as Dr. Russo contends, won’t make you sleepy.

For example, Bloom Farms’ Dream tincture has both CBD and CBN, but it’s heavy on the CBD. Bloom Farms experimented with various ratios before landing on a 5:1 mix, said Sally Nichols, the California company’s president of CBD. Bloom Farms’ goal was to find a product that made users sleepy, and this ratio was “the sweet spot,” Nichols said. Bloom Farms provided samples to small populations of customers of 50 or fewer and got input from doctors with experience prescribing cannabis as it tinkered with the ratio.

Researchers  CBD to be relaxing in high doses, but energizing . Frustratingly, what is considered a high or low dosage, may vary from person to person. At 1,000 mg CBD in each 30 ml bottle, Dream has the second-highest amount of CBD in Bloom Farms’ line of tinctures.

Bloom Farms recommends starting with a 1/4 ml serving under the tongue, which is about 8 mg CBD and 2 mg CBN in each dose. This is not a lot. Researchers testing the effectiveness of CBD to treat anxiety and sleeplessness have given volunteers anywhere from 25 mg to 900 mg, with negligible to significant effect.

I took the 10 mg serving for about a week roughly 45 minutes before my normal bed time in late August, as massive fires burned in Northern California, coronavirus deaths reached record highs, and campaigning for the election was in full force. It tasted woodsy and oily, but not bad; I felt a fleeting rush of calm within the first few moments. My mind still raced as my head hit the pillow, though, but after about an hour I fell asleep. I doubled the dosage soon after and had some great, deep sleep. Unfortunately, I continually woke up groggy and with a dry mouth. By week four of my one-month experiment, I was back to struggling to fall asleep. I took it randomly over the next few months, finding that sometimes it made me drowsy and sometimes it didn’t.

Dr. Junella Chin, an integrative cannabis physician in New York who’s recommended Bloom Farms’ Dream to her own patients, said it’s possible for your body to stop reacting to natural supplements or medications over time. She compared it to over-the-counter allergy medications. A brand may work for you one season, but next year it provides no relief and you have to try another. “Your body does adjust to it,” she said, noting that if switching products doesn’t help, “just take a break.”

I also tested two brands from Sunderstorm, its Nano5 Tranquility Sleep Formula sublingual and Kanha Tranquility gummies.

The Nano5 promises rapid effects. It uses small balls of fat, a tiny fraction of the size of a human cell, to deliver the formula. The pharmaceutical industry has used quick-acting s like this for decades, but it’s fairly unique in the cannabis space.

“It gets into the bloodstream very, very rapidly,” said Cameron Clarke, CEO and cofounder of the California company.

Within minutes of dropping the suggested 1/2 ml of the cloudy, yellow liquid under my tongue my eyes felt droopy. I was asleep soon after, my mind quiet. The Nano5, which is supposed to be a “citrus flavor,” was bitter with a faint mint aftertaste. It lightly burned as I held it under my tongue for the advised 90 seconds.

The Nano5, which ranges from $80 to $105 for its 30 ml bottle depending on the dispensary, seems to include everything and the kitchen sink.

The recommended 1/2 ml serving has roughly 2.5 mg each of CBD, CBN, and THC. In addition to the cannabinoids, it also has twice as much 5-HTP, a supplement that may , a hormone that , and 1/2 mg melatonin. The formula has additional terpenes known for their sedative qualities, myrcene and linalool, thrown in.

The Kanha gummies, which have a berry flavor and are one of the better-tasting edibles I’ve tried, take effect in about 90 minutes, according to the packaging, and include 5 mg each of CBD, CBN, and THC. They also have 1 mg of melatonin. For me, they started working within 30 to 45 minutes, so faster than expected.

“It gives you a little something, a little kicker,” Clarke said of the melatonin. When asked whether Sunderstorm followed any scientific research before deciding to add melatonin to the mix, he said it was more about trial and error.

“A lot of it is us just testing what we think can work.”

“I wish we had the science to back this up. As a product company we’re trying to develop products as quickly as we can to address a market need particularly with Covid anxiety and sleep issues that people have. A lot of it is us just testing what we think can work,” he said. (A similar strategy plays out across the wellness space.)

Dr. Chin doesn’t recommend mixing cannabinoids and melatonin because it may make you feel groggy in the morning. However, she noted that if a natural sleep aid isn’t as effective as one would like, adding 1 mg of melatonin to the mix is generally fine.

All three products made me feel groggy, which, for me, isn’t a typical reaction after consuming a similar amount of weed. The gummies, which cost $20 to $25, were the only ones that gave me a typical high feeling. On my first night of testing, I ate two (the package recommends one to three). Unfortunately, my mind continued to race before bed. I eventually fell asleep, but I woke around 3 a.m. feeling dizzy and nauseous. Luckily, that didn’t happen again, but I still had groggy mornings after future tests that did help me sleep.

What’s the next big cannabinoid

Don’t expect CBN to be the end of the road for cannabis experimentation, even if scientists later find it’s not exactly the sleep miracle many believe it to be.

“These first few cannabinoids are just the tip of the iceberg,” said Dr. Jonathan Vaught, who has a Ph.D. in organic chemistry. The CEO of Front Range Biosciences, a hemp and cannabis genetics platform company in Colorado, rattled off an alphabet soup of cannabinoids consumers may start to see for sale, especially as marijuana legalization expands: CBG, CBDV, and THCV. Preliminary research, again on mice, shows CBG seems to treat  and . Bloom Farms recently released its own CBD-CBG product for customers generally interested in “gut health,” as Nichols described it. Extract Labs has had one on the market since last year. I tried it back then but felt no effects, although I generally don’t have stomach issues.

The “V” in CBDV and THCV stands for varin, which basically means they’re slightly different than their well-known counterparts. The varins may get absorbed differently, perhaps tweaking some outcomes, Dr. Vaught said.

“People anecdotally say when you have high THCV in your product, it decreases the tendency to get the munchies,” Dr. Vaught explained, emphasizing the anecdotally. “Whereas if you have plain THC in your product you may get the munchies.”

On the medical front, the U.S. Department of Defense has spent $1.3 million on a New York-based clinical trial testing CBDV on autism patients.

We may see various ratios of these minor cannabinoids pop up in new products as the cannabis industry seeks to squeeze more green out of its green crops.

“In the longer term, we may be able to create a regulatory framework that allows us to truly monetize a lot of the parts of this plant,” Dr. Vaught remarked.

What to know if you want to try CBN

If you still want to try CBN, there are several things to keep in mind. Firstly, its legality is a gray area. The thinking goes if CBN is made from hemp with less than 0.3 percent THC — which is possible but more difficult  — it may be allowed in states where hemp is legal. If it’s made from cannabis with a higher THC level, it may only be legal in medicinal and recreational states. Future legislation or court decisions are needed to clear up the haze, according to legal news site Above the Law.

Secondly, expect to pay up. CBN is expensive to produce, which means CBN products are pricey. So are CBD products for that matter.

“It takes mother nature a long time to degrade THC into CBN,” Sunderstorm’s Clarke said, and processes to speed it up aren’t cheap. On top of that, only 10 to 20 percent of the THC in a plant degrades into CBN, he said.

Dr. Chin, who has been recommending CBN to sleepless patients during the pandemic, suggests taking it slow. Start with a low dosage and move up. Like with other cannabis products, do your research on brands and make sure they third-party test and the plant is organically grown, she added. Ask to see certificates of analyses, which respected brands will provide, if not made available on their website or via QR code. You’ll want to check for pesticides, heavy metals, and microbials. This is where you can also nerd out on a product’s terpene makeup.

She warned not to mix sleep aids with alcohol, or you risk feeling dizzy and groggy when you wake up. It may also decrease your alcohol tolerance and is dangerous.

Dr. Russo wonders why one would want to buy a CBN product to fall asleep when the scientific literature isn’t compelling.

You may be paying a lot for the same experience you can get with a $10 bottle of melatonin. Melatonin has its own side effects, dizziness and nausea, and is best for short-term use, according to the Mayo Clinic, an academic medical center.

In the end, I mostly stopped using the CBN products after a few months. Every now and then I’ll eat a Kanha gummy. When I have a particularly frazzle-brained evening, I’ll lie on my back and listen to a meditation app for 10 minutes. Sometimes it helps and sometimes it doesn’t. (Sound familiar?) A colleague recently started  at night — mouth breathing is apparently bad for sleep — and says the quirky technique leaves him feeling more refreshed in the mornings.

Maybe I’ll try that next. The hunt for a better night’s sleep continues.

Original Article: https://mashable.com/article/what-is-cbn-cannabis/