Maybe, but it definitely has a PR problem
The cannabis industry is hurtling toward a major crisis.
And it’s one that many industry professionals haven’t paid much attention to.
Among the numerous, daunting challenges facing cannabis businesses across the country — including back-breaking taxes, an epidemic of break-ins, perpetual price compression and obstacles to traditional banking — proposed legislation related to potency could be the silent killer.
“Every year, we’re seeing legislation about capping THC or taxing by THC, and I think that’s going to continue picking up more steam,” Confidence Analytics CEO Nick Mosely says. “This is becoming an existential threat to the industry.”
The Threat
Anti-cannabis activists and lawmakers in several states have proposed legislation aimed at restricting, or eliminating from the legal market altogether, “high-potency” products, mostly in concentrate form, but also in some states, higher THC flower.
Montana, which already limits topical products to 6% THC, is considering a proposal to reduce the THC concentration allowed in flower to 10% — probably one of the most radical proposals for an adult-use market anywhere in the country and a massive change from the 35% THC cap in place now.
Vermont, often lauded for industry regulations that favor craft cannabis companies, has capped flower at 30% THC and concentrates at 60% THC. Ohio also limits THC to 30% in flower and 70% in concentrates.
Numerous states, including Illinois, Montana and New York, have proposed or implemented variable tax rates based on the potency of cannabis products.
And both Colorado and Washington — the two oldest adult-use markets in the United States — are considering potency-related bills in this year’s legislative sessions. A Senate bill introduced in Colorado in January would prohibit anyone under the age of 26 from buying cannabis products with more than 10% THC. Washington lawmakers have considered a variety of proposals to prohibit higher potency products over the past few years, including one that would have banned all concentrates with more than 35% THC and another, more recent bill, that would prohibit people under the age of 25 from buying “high-potency products.”
“It’s getting louder and louder every year,” says Lara Kaminsky, program director at Confidence Analytics. “At some point, the restrictions will be forced upon us unless we do something that takes the pressure off the gas pedal.”
The PR battle
A better, more unified lobbying effort from the cannabis industry is one thing, but that energy might be useless if it’s not accompanied by a better PR message to combat the sensationalist headlines.
KUOW/NPR: “Weed sick: High-potency cannabis leads to ER visits, illnesses for some users.”
The New York Times: “Marijuana dependence linked to higher risk of death.”
The Atlantic: “Marijuana is too strong now.”
Good Morning America: “Legal cannabis linked to increase in cannabis health problems, study shows.”
The Washington Post: “Marijuana use is rising. The government needs to correct its mistake.”
“I don’t think we’re going to counteract this by just saying, ‘No, that’s not true,’” Mosely says.
Kaminsky says the articles she’s seeing in the mainstream press are mostly one-sided in opposition of the industry.
“Which is disturbing,” she says. “Our voice is being lost in the narrative and it’s becoming rather urgent to change the conversation and direct it toward something that is actually of more value to the consumer; helping them find what they are looking for outside of just THC.”
The Conversation
In a way, the cannabis industry has brought the problem on itself. Many industry professionals realized early on that chasing THC numbers was not likely to produce the best experience for consumers. But selling products based on a high THC number was an easy solution, one essentially demanded by consumers at the retail counter. Several times a day, every budtender in the country hears the question, “What’s the strongest product you have?”
The industry has been forced to adapt to a customer base that largely equates quality with potency. Consumers instinctively assume the big, recognizable number on the package — THC — is an indicator of value.
“Most of us in the industry and in the know, and maybe that small percentage of consumers who are especially informed, we know that THC chasing is not really a good way to find the product that you’re looking for,” Mosely says. “It’s a false value assessment.”
Yet, more than a decade after the first states began allowing adult-use sales, it’s easy to wonder if the industry is doing enough to shift this conversation. Once preconceived notions become ingrained, it can be exceedingly difficult to rebuild the narrative.
And though adult-use cannabis shares many parallels with the alcohol business, this is one area they differ significantly; beer, wine and spirits are rarely marketed and sold based on alcohol content.
“That would definitely catch the ire of prevention folks,” Mosely says.
There has been a movement to educate consumers more about terpenes, but that’s been an uphill battle with the long, complicated names. Caryophyllene. Alpha-pinene. Linalool.
Cannabis is also “a complex drug,” Mosely explains. “It has a multitude of ingredients, and the dose response is non-linear. It’s complicated, and if we try to dump a bunch of data on the consumer, their eyes will glaze over.”
Enter the Strain Compass
Changing the conversation was the impetus for the Confidence Analytics team to launch the Strain Data Project and develop the Strain Compass.
The Strain Compass is an attempt to meet consumers where they are and start discussions that ultimately lead to better experiences. It’s a way of providing consumers and industry professionals with a relatively simple classification system using scientific data — including terpene content — without bogging customers down with overly scientific explanations.
With the Strain Compass, products are divided into six color categories (purple, yellow, red, orange, blue and green). Products within each color category share similar chemical makeups, but the company is careful not to connect categories with a particular effect, in part because every person may experience the categories differently.
The information is based on the massive amount of data Confidence Analytics has accumulated in more than 10 years as a state-licensed cannabis testing lab. Mosely says the company has tested an average of 2,000 samples per month for about 120 months, with one to seven tests per sample, generating as many as 120 analytes per sample — well over 25 million data points over the past decade.
Mosely says consumers should try products across the color spectrum; through their own experimentation, they will become familiar with the nuances and effects of each category.
Numerous cannabis brands and ancillary companies have come up with similar classification systems, though not all have done so based on testing data. Mosely recognizes the challenge of getting the industry to recognize and adopt a single classification system.
“It will require a massive, coordinated effort,” he says. “We can’t monopolize this categorization scheme and expect it to work. It starts with the labs, and you need buy-in from all of the stakeholders along the supply chain. It’s a huge undertaking to re-educate people, but it’s like eating an elephant: one bite at a time.”
Many consumers and brands will continue to lean heavily on the indica-sativa classification system or strain names that continually become more meaningless with the hybridization of cultivars and the vast number of new strain names that get added to the industry lexicon every year.
But the Strain Compass is a step in the right direction, and a step toward more consistent, repeatable experience, Kaminsky says.
“The reason we developed a tool like this is because we’ve seen the direction that these conversations are going in the public sphere, and it’s concerning,” she says. “The industry needs to take control of the conversation and not leave it up to legislators and regulators. Where that transformation starts is through educating our consumers that the number on the package isn’t necessarily what they’re after. Utilizing tools like the Strain Compass can help redefine customer preferences, encourage more thoughtful consumption and reshape the public perception.”
To learn more about the Strain Data Project and The Strain Compass visit: www.StrainDataProject.org