Business
Opinion: How cannabis brands can drive innovation as functional products
Within the past two years, growing public health concerns and the proliferation of personal wellness products have created more health-conscious and proactive consumers.
Recent market research indicates that 70% of consumers currently use food products for specific functional benefits to support their mental and physical well-being.
As more consumers prioritize their holistic health, this presents a timely opportunity for the cannabis industry to create tailored formulations that cater to these evolving and varied preferences.
Considering how cannabis will only become more accessible in the years to come, brands have the ability to develop full-day product experiences that showcase the plant’s diverse applications.
Moving forward, brands can shift their focus away from conventional THC and CBD products and harness the power of relatively untapped terpenes and minor cannabinoids.
Embracing cannabis’ latest role as a functional product and creating customized offerings to support sleep, performance and rest can make the industry more approachable to new audiences and open the door to more scientific research around the benefits of the plant.
Formulating for sleep
Millennials currently represent the largest share of cannabis consumers in the United States, and brands should pay close attention to their lifestyle habits when developing new products.
Notably, millennials experience extremely high stress levels and struggle with sleep disorders.
As a result, millennials use sleep aids more often than their baby boomer and Gen X counterparts.
To reach this niche-yet-growing demographic, brands should consider formulating products with specific cannabinoid ratios, terpenes and functional additives specifically designed to optimize sleep.
Our company’s research teams have found minor cannabinoids such as CBN and CBG especially effective when paired with terpenes such as nerolidol and linalool, as well as functional ingredients such as holy basil and magnesium.
Pairing these cannabinoids with terpenes might lead to products that help consumers gain much needed rest.
If mainstream sleep-market growth continues to increase by nearly 6% annually and reach $46.5 billion by 2025, brands must find creative ways to translate this demand within the cannabis sector.
Carving out the market
Consumers are not only seeking out products to help them relax, but they are also looking for offerings that enhance mental and physical performance throughout the day.
This is reflected in the rising demand for energy drinks – a market projected to reach $99.62 billion in five years.
This level of growth comes as no surprise when considering how these products are marketed for everyday activities ranging from studying to working out and even gaming.
While this is a relatively new frontier within cannabis consumer packaged goods (CPG), recent studies have identified minor cannabinoids such as THCv that can increase energy metabolism.
Additionally, terpenes such as beta-caryophyllene, limonene and pinene can enhance focus, increase energy and improve cognitive function, respectively.
These energizing cannabinoids and terpenes will be especially valuable in the future as fewer consumers purchase sugar-sweetened beverages.
Brands that seize this opportunity could introduce an innovative category of new products that propel cannabis into the mainstream spotlight.
Embracing ‘Cali sober’
Of course, holistic wellness requires a balanced lifestyle, which means consumers are also shopping for products that can help them unwind after a hectic day.
In many cases, cannabis-infused beverages have become a go-to nightcap.
Approximately 45% of adults reportedly opted for cannabis over alcohol during the height of the pandemic.
Since then, cannabis beverages have steadily grown in popularity, and recent innovations in emulsion technology, along with more consumers seeking healthier ways to decompress, will continue driving this trend.
Consequently, cannabis brands can develop new products featuring specific terpene blends that can deliver a similar relaxed buzz.
Products high in terpenes such as myrcene and limonene might create both relaxing and euphoric experiences.
Ranging from cocktails to tonics, infusion technology has made way for the development of sweet, invigorating beverages along with low-calorie drinks that appeal to a variety of consumer lifestyles and dietary preferences.
Minor cannabinoids and terpenes are the future
Over the past decade, the U.S. cannabis industry has demonstrated its potential as the next CPG sector.
However, those who have invested their time, effort and energy to develop the space into what it is today cannot become complacent or stagnant.
Instead, companies must look toward the future and directly address growing consumer demand for everyday functional products.
Achieving this goal will require market leaders to shift their focus to terpenes and minor cannabinoids that can create novel cannabis experiences.
This is a valuable opportunity that cannot be overlooked, especially considering how the terpene market is expected to grow at a compounded annual rate of 6.4% in the next five years.
Cannabis has a myriad of functional and holistic wellness applications, and brands must make a concerted effort to showcase these benefits to the mainstream, health-conscious consumer.
Austin Stevenson is the chief innovation officer at cannabis ingredient manufacturer Vertosa, based in Oakland, California.
Source: https://mjbizdaily.com/how-cannabis-brands-can-drive-innovation-as-functional-products/
New Mexico regulators fined a cannabis operator nearly $300,000 and revoked its license after the company allegedly created fake reports in the state’s traceability software.
The New Mexico Cannabis Control Division (CCD) accused marijuana manufacturer and retailer Golden Roots of 11 violations, according to Albuquerque Business First.
Golden Roots operates the The Cannabis Revolution Dispensary.
The majority of the violations are related to the Albuquerque company’s improper use of BioTrack, which has been New Mexico’s track-and-trace vendor since 2015.
The CCD alleges Golden Roots reported marijuana production only two months after it had received its vertically integrated license, according to Albuquerque Business First.
Because cannabis takes longer than two months to be cultivated, the CCD was suspicious of the report.
After inspecting the company’s premises, the CCD alleged Golden Roots reported cultivation, transportation and sales in BioTrack but wasn’t able to provide officers who inspected the site evidence that the operator was cultivating cannabis.
In April, the CCD revoked Golden Roots’ license and issued a $10,000 fine, according to the news outlet.
The company requested a hearing, which the regulator scheduled for Sept. 1.
At the hearing, the CCD testified that the company’s dried-cannabis weights in BioTrack were suspicious because they didn’t seem to accurately reflect how much weight marijuana loses as it dries.
Company employees also poorly accounted for why they were making adjustments in the system of up to 24 pounds of cannabis, making comments such as “bad” or “mistake” in the software, Albuquerque Business First reported.
Golden Roots was fined $298,972.05 – the amount regulators allege the company made selling products that weren’t properly accounted for in BioTrack.
The CCD has been cracking down on cannabis operators accused of selling products procured from out-of-state or not grown legally:
- Regulators alleged in August that Albuquerque dispensary Sawmill Sweet Leaf sold out-of-state products and didn’t have a license for extraction.
- Paradise Exotics Distro lost its license in July after regulators alleged the company sold products made in California.
Golden Roots was the first alleged rulebreaker in New Mexico to be asked to pay a large fine.
Source: https://mjbizdaily.com/new-mexico-cannabis-operator-fined-loses-license-for-alleged-biotrack-fraud/
Four marijuana companies, including a multistate operator, have filed a lawsuit against U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland in which they allege the federal MJ prohibition under the Controlled Substances Act is no longer constitutional.
According to the complaint, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, retailer Canna Provisions, Treevit delivery service CEO Gyasi Sellers, cultivator Wiseacre Farm and MSO Verano Holdings Corp. are all harmed by “the federal government’s unconstitutional ban on cultivating, manufacturing, distributing, or possessing intrastate marijuana.”
Verano is headquartered in Chicago but has operations in Massachusetts; the other three operators are based in Massachusetts.
The lawsuit seeks a ruling that the “Controlled Substances Act is unconstitutional as applied to the intrastate cultivation, manufacture, possession, and distribution of marijuana pursuant to state law.”
The companies want the case to go before the U.S. Supreme Court.
They hired prominent law firm Boies Schiller Flexner to represent them.
The New York-based firm’s principal is David Boies, whose former clients include Microsoft, former presidential candidate Al Gore and Elizabeth Holmes’ disgraced startup Theranos.
Similar challenges to the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA) have failed.
One such challenge led to a landmark Supreme Court decision in 2005.
In Gonzalez vs. Raich, the highest court in the United States ruled in a 6-3 decision that the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution gave Congress the power to outlaw marijuana federally, even though state laws allow the cultivation and sale of cannabis.
In the 18 years since that ruling, 23 states and the District of Columbia have legalized adult-use marijuana and the federal government has allowed a multibillion-dollar cannabis industry to thrive.
Since both Congress and the U.S. Department of Justice, currently headed by Garland, have declined to intervene in state-licensed marijuana markets, the key facts that led to the Supreme Court’s 2005 ruling “no longer apply,” Boies said in a statement Thursday.
“The Supreme Court has since made clear that the federal government lacks the authority to regulate purely intrastate commerce,” Boies said.
“Moreover, the facts on which those precedents are based are no longer true.”
Verano President Darren Weiss said in a statement the company is “prepared to bring this case all the way to the Supreme Court in order to align federal law with how Congress has acted for years.”
While the Biden administration’s push to reschedule marijuana would help solve marijuana operators’ federal tax woes, neither rescheduling nor modest Congressional reforms such as the SAFER Banking Act “solve the fundamental issue,” Weiss added.
“The application of the CSA to lawful state-run cannabis business is an unconstitutional overreach on state sovereignty that has led to decades of harm, failed businesses, lost jobs, and unsafe working conditions.”
Alabama regulators are targeting Dec. 1 to award the first batch of medical cannabis business licenses after the agency’s first two attempts were scrapped because of scoring errors and litigation.
The first licenses will be awarded to individual cultivators, delivery providers, processors, dispensaries and state testing labs, according to the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission (AMCC).
Then, on Dec. 12, the AMCC will award licenses for vertically integrated operations, a designation set primarily for multistate operators.
Licenses are expected to be handed out 28 days after they have been awarded, so MMJ production could begin in early January, according to the Alabama Daily News.
That means MMJ products could be available for patients around early March, an AMCC spokesperson told the media outlet.
Regulators initially awarded 21 business licenses in June, only to void them after applicants alleged inconsistencies with how the applications were scored.
Then, in August, the state awarded 24 different licenses – 19 went to June recipients – only to reverse themselves again and scratch those licenses after spurned applicants filed lawsuits.
A state judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by Chicago-based MSO Verano Holdings Corp., but another lawsuit is pending.
Source: https://mjbizdaily.com/alabama-plans-to-award-medical-cannabis-licenses-dec-1/
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