If you have been to your local smoke shop, vape shop or CBD store you certainly have seen the bud that is on the shelves that has caused some of us to do a double take on what we are exactly seeing for sale here. This is likely CBD flower or hemp flower. There has even been another cannabinoid that has found its way in high levels of hemp flower and that is CBG, making a pitch for CBG rich hemp flower. The more successful sales of a shop will be because they have chosen more visually appealing flower, much like the black market, and the smells will include terpenes that can be also be found in legal cannabis. There has been more content around this hemp flower that can look really pretty in pictures and videos but truthfully, is there really a market demand that is ready for the various cannabinoids in the form of smokable hemp flower or could we still be lacking in education and market maturity?
With this new addition to the shelves of smoke shops or CBD stores, a Texan can walk into a seemingly cannabis dispensary that is right out of a legal state. Their existing products in comparison are seemingly identical, just with the absence of higher THC levels over .3%. Some national branded companies offer T-Free (THC Free) products in non rec states, as well as THC infused products in legal states. Similar packaging, labeling and presentation for products just as you would find in a dispensary in a state like Nevada or Oregon. Is this just a replicate of a legal states dispensary look and feel just minus the higher THC levels? And are we going to see an expanded cannabinoid market here in Texas pushed by hemp flower that eventually derives into the tincture oils, salves, concentrates and vape products?
As a business owner and someone looking for a competitive advantage in the hemp space, being ahead of the cannabinoid craze will be a good way to stay in the money. But also as a business owner in the hemp/cannabis space you are going up against big titans that can pump out product and beat any cost you put out until they run you out of business. What you can beat them at right now, is educating your consumer base and gaining consumers trust in return. Educating from the perspective of the Endocannabinoid System is something that I would strongly advise but also getting away from the individual molecule education to minimize how much you are feeding the brand new consumers. The research and technology will catch up to the progression of retail cannabis/hemp and I believe eventually we will see a world where people go and get prescribed cannabinoid/terpene profiles that will HEAL their physical ailments. A lot of us believe that this plant can truly heal us especially and understanding the most critical system in our bodies, the Endocannabinoid system. And now that we are studying that system more we can truly learn how to rid the bodies of autoimmune diseases and inflammation (which is the root of 80% of known diseases, sicknesses).
This is where it gets tricky for me. This was Big Pharma’s conundrum, if we rid the bodies of the sickness, and people actually get healed, how do we continue to make money as a business when there is fewer sick people? If the cannabis industry reaches a point where we figure out how to really HEAL what does that mean for businesses that are selling monthly cannabinoid treatments in aim to generate consistent revenue for their business? What will happen to CBD store owner Steve when 75% of his customers don’t come back because they are healing or are healed? What does he do and how does he scale going forward into the later years? Now, I get it, we still have this mental health situation where we have yet to really understand how to heal ourselves mentally and rid the minds of traumas. And cannabis has been promoted to be effective in treating some of our most challenging mental disorders/diseases. So there is a huge opportunity to fill for people healing their mental health using cannabis. Hopefully we learn to cure these mental disorders/diseases but if or when we reach that point where does that leave these business owners who have gone all in on CBD?
These are just questions I am posing on the industry and how it has unfolded. When I got started 5 years ago, I was so hopeful that we would get this physical health thing figured out through learning and discovering plant interaction with our ECS. And I still believe we will get there. What we have seen is research still coming up short and cannabis/CBD businesses setting up shop everywhere to pump out various cannabinoid products. What it seems like to me is that we still have customers in the cannabis industry, when we were aiming to put patients first. I really don’t have the answer for businesses when it comes to business in the healthcare field. Honestly, I think many people share the sentiment I do when I say that there may not be room in healthcare for businesses. Businesses put profit in front of health because that is how their structure can stay standing and how they survive. I am all for business but I am more for healing the people of this planet and not draining the people of money while getting them back to full and optimal health.