MJBizMag July 2022 - 50

Research Renaissance
LEADING
G
uy Rocourt, the CEO of Papa
& Barkley, a California-based
infused products maker, has
followed cannabis research from his
earliest days in the legal marijuana
industry.
As the company's former chief
operating officer, Rocourt infused
what he learned into the balms,
edibles, tinctures and other products
Papa & Barkley produces. For example,
he started including lavender in
whole-plant cannabis balms after
reading an Israeli research paper that
found the plant helped cannabinoids
penetrate the skin.
Such research, Rocourt reasoned,
would lend credibility to the products
while educating the company's patients.
" We've always wanted to make
products that are based on the most
accurate cannabis science, so I can go
out and speak agnostically about (the
research), " Rocourt said. " The more you
(the customer) know, the more likely
you are to buy Papa & Barkley products,
because we are formulating them to the
best in class of cannabis science. "
LAUNCHING
A RESEARCH PROGRAM
But a few years ago, when Rocourt
wanted to set up studies to explore
cannabis' therapeutic effects, the
universities he approached about a
partnership either said no or didn't
reply. Rocourt speculated they were
50 Julu 2022 | MJBizMagazine
By Omar Sacirbey
SCIENTIFIC STUDIES
Absent university partners, Papa & Barkley mined its customer
database to carry out product research
Guy Rocourt
Courtesy Photo
worried about losing federal funding
as well as the stigma of marijuana and
bias in favor of mainstream drugs.
Rocourt was undeterred, however,
and Papa & Barkley decided that
if it could not pursue research in
partnership with universities, the
company would leverage its assets to
perform its own research through " inhome-use
tests, " or IHUTs.
One of the most important assets
Papa & Barkley had was a database that
included thousands of consumers who
had bought its products. The registry,
started with the company's launch in
2016, included customers who bought
THC products in California's regulated
market as well as national customers
who'd purchased CBD goods.
Setting up an IHUT is a multistep
process that starts with subject
recruitment and screening, said Cassie
Perlman, Papa & Barkley's senior vice
president for marketing.
For its most recent IHUT analyzing
the efficacy of Papa & Barkley's Sleep
Releaf Tincture, which contains
4 milligrams of THC, 2 milligrams
of CBD and 1 milligram of CBN per
serving, the company wanted to have
about 100 subjects. Papa & Barkley
aimed to recruit a mix of 150 women
and men, however, because many
subjects drop out of the tests. In the
end, 94 subjects completed the study.
To recruit subjects for the sleep
tincture study, Papa & Barkley mailed
questionnaires to consumers, asking
questions such as:
* How many hours do you sleep per
night?
* On a scale of 1-10, how would you
rate your trouble sleeping?
* Do you take any other sleep aids or
pharmaceutical products?
Papa & Barkley then analyzed the
recruitment screening results that
were returned.
MJBizMag July 2022

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