MJBizMag November-December 2022 - 108

Rethinking
Potency
" Up until recently,
consumers assumed
that higher THC
percentages meant
they would get a more
full experience out
of the product. It's a
self-fulfilling prophecy. "
-Kyle Sherman
CEO of Flowhub
consumer knows is it has the highest
THC, that must be the best. Many
people are still stuck in that world of
'the stronger, the better.' "
But new cannabis consumers and
those who don't have much of a THC
tolerance are unlikely to have a good
experience if they consume too much
high-potency cannabis.
" The consumer isn't educated on any
of this, " she added. " Even if they are,
they walk into dispensaries and get
these budtenders that don't know what
they're doing. That's an issue. "
Budtenders, like many retail
employees, are often difficult to retain,
and turnover is common.
A recent report from Seattle-based
Headset, a cannabis industry data and
analytics company, found that " in both
the U.S. and Canada, 55% of budtenders
who worked at any point over the
previous 12 months had departed by the
end of that time period. "
So, putting too much emphasis on
entry-level retail employees as the
first line of education is a problem,
Stuck said.
" We're almost relying on our
budtenders like we would a
pharmacist, " she added.
Additionally, state regulations
often don't require testing for minor
cannabinoids and terpenes, so that
information is not always available to
interested consumers.
CONSUMERS SET MARKET
Part of the issue: Cannabis businesses
are reacting to what sells.
Consumer purchasing data shows
that higher-potency products are
more attractive to consumers, so
growers choose strains and growing
methods likely to produce more highTHC
flower.
" The industry reacts to consumer
demand, " said Kyle Sherman, CEO of
Denver-based Flowhub, a cannabis
software company serving marijuana
retailers. " Up until recently, consumers
assumed that higher THC percentages
meant they would get a more full
experience out of the product. It's a
self-fulfilling prophecy. "
In reality, a good experience is much
more sophisticated than just high
potency, he added.
At infused cannabis product maker
Cheeba Chews, Chief Marketing
Officer Eric Leslie said the Denverbased
company is trying to diversify
its products to create the entourage
effect, or the experience generated by
106 November-December 2022 | MJBizMagazine
cannabinoids working in concert with
other cannabinoids and terpenes.
Leslie said his company's goal is to
help consumers recognize how these
different components affect them.
To increase the entourage effect,
Cheeba Chews adds cannabinoids
such as CBN and CBG to formulations
beyond simple THC distillate. The
company also uses full-spectrum oil in
some of its products.
" Having a better understanding of
what the cannabinoid does for you-
and conditioning consumers to look for
those versus just potency-helps retrain
expectations of what they're going to
get from the flower, the oil or the edible, "
Leslie said.
He added that preferences shift
as consumer tastes become more
sophisticated. To cater to that, some
live rosin-infused products include a
full terpene profile on the label so that
consumers " understand the flavor and
effects from that edible specifically and
how you can closely connect that to
what the terpene profile is, " he added.
THIRD-PARTY TESTING
Cannabis testing laboratories might
be partly to blame for the marijuana
industry's focus on delivering high-THC
MJBizMag November-December 2022

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