There’s no denying that marijuana is a booming market. After Colorado legalized marijuana in 2014, 147 recreational dispensaries opened in the state that year — a number that grew to 509 by 2018. Six other states have since legalized recreational marijuana. In a word, business is booming.

Within an industry facing such unprecedented growth, cannabis brands are met with big challenges when it comes to differentiation. Hundreds of new brands launch every year. High-profile personalities like comedian Tommy Chong and former boxer Mike Tyson are getting in on the game. Competition is fierce, and many companies are faced with the unique challenge of working to develop a trustworthy and recognizable brand while adhering to stringent state rules.

Chief among these standards (in most states) is securing high-quality cannabis packaging, which refers primarily to food-grade materials and designs that include child-resistant mechanisms. In other words, not just any tube or bag will do. Cannabis products require packaging options that maintain and protect product integrity and freshness while meeting the United States’ and Canada’s safety regulations — particularly, certified child-resistant and ASTM compliant packaging.

But despite the never-ending hoops cannabis brands must jump through, they need to be more than just compliant to be successful in this crowded market. They need to establish brands that stand out and build a following of loyal customers.

So, how does a dispensary establish a stand-out brand? For many, packaging is the best place to start. After all, choosing the right container with the right design is an essential part of differentiating and elevating a brand. “Custom branding, colors, and finishes are what will get people to remember you and your product,” says Stefanie Singer of Greenlane, a full-service, premium dispensary and smoke shop products distributor. “Customizable packaging helps promote that brand awareness.”

Pollen Gear, part of Greenlane’s family of products, is on a mission to make it easier for companies to get the packaging they need while elevating their own brand identities through quality, custom-designed packaging derived entirely from sustainable materials. From the world’s first child-resistant glass jars for cannabis to the patented PopBox and SnapTech containers, Pollen Gear packages are airtight, durable, and lightweight, and can be fully customized with colors, finishes, and logos to convey the right brand look and feel.

“Your brand is not only the design on your package,” Singer adds. “It’s the story you tell.”

That story begins with your brand’s look and feel. Pollen Gear works with companies to identify unique packaging solutions that convey their unique stories, operating as a complete source for customized and compliant containers. This includes distinctive brand-specific labels, colors, and finishes.

“Pollen Gear is proprietary and designed from scratch — nothing in our line is sourced,” says Ed Kilduff, creator and president of Pollen Gear. “Our team of seasoned, award-winning industrial designers had the freedom to create the most sensible solutions as the first movers in the industry at a time when there were only pill bottles and baggies.” Today, Pollen Gear, distributed exclusively by Greenlane, offers a wealth of packaging options, complete with child-resistant certificates for over 40 items and over 100 issued worldwide patents.

This story goes on from there, focusing intentionally on recyclable and sustainable materials. When companies support sustainability, particularly in regards to packaging (a major challenge already detailed in this issue), it can elevate a brand’s relationship with customers from simply transactional to having a shared mission.

In a crowded market, developing a memorable and trustworthy brand identity is no easy task. Just as dispensary owners must earn the confidence of their customers, they themselves must rely on trustworthy partners. When that partner offers an easy, convenient way to obtain customized, compliant, and green packaging solutions, it’s a win-win.

In a survey of 64 TS patients, 25% indicated they had used cannabis, with over 80% of those individuals indicating that it helped reduce tics.

Tourette syndrome (TS) is a neurological disorder that develops in an early age in patients and is defined by involuntary movements and vocalizations, known as tics. These tics can be painful, embarrassing, and functionally impairing. At the present time, there is no known cure for TS. Current treatments aim to help control tics to improve quality of life. However, they have also been known to produce negative side effects.¹

Some of the more common medications that are used to treat TS include clonidine, risperidone, haloperidol, and topiramate. While these drugs provide relief for many patients, they also have a plethora of side effects associated with their use. These side effects may include hypotension, drowsiness, weight gain, depression, and potentially kidney stones. In addition to pharmacological treatments, there is evidence that comprehensive behavioral treatment can be effective in reducing tics and helping in TS.²

The use of cannabis in the treatment of TS is a relatively new idea. In a survey of 64 TS patients who were interviewed at Hannover Medical School, 25% indicated they had used cannabis, with over 80% of those individuals indicating that it helped in reducing tics. Following this, several additional small-scale studies comparing THC containing products against placebo demonstrated statistically significant improvements in TS related tics. Additionally, most of the patients who found success with cannabis had failed at least one pharmacological intervention.³

It is theorized that either modulation of dopamine transmission or dysregulation of the endocannibinoid system (specifically due to interactions between CB1 receptors and other neurotransmitter systems). Strains that are high in limonene or with tangerine lineage appear to assist in modulating dopamine dysregulation linked to TS.¹

The proposed oral starting dose is 2.5mg daily, increased by 2.5mg every three to five days, up to a maximum dose of 30mg daily.1 Of note, it appears that inhaled cannabinoids provide faster onset and relief of symptoms. Unfortunately, there is not a lot of information directly comparing the effects of inhaled cannabis to oral formulations, so patients typically experience some trial and error in treatment.³

Due to its status as a Schedule I drug, as well as an absence of federal laws sanctioning medical marijuana in the United States, large-scale controlled research studies are virtually non-existent at the present time. However, in Germany a placebo-controlled study designed to investigate the efficacy and safety of cannabis in patients with TS is currently underway.⁴

Because patients in studies typically stayed on their prescription medications while using cannabis, further investigation is necessary in order to confirm the value of cannabis as a solo treatment option. Ultimately, cannabis appears to be a promising option in the treatment of tics and associated symptoms of TS, though additional research is necessary to confirm efficacy and safety.³

References

1. Backes, M. (2014). Cannabis pharmacy: the practical guide to medical marijuana. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers. 43, 283

2. Kumar A, Duda L, Mainali G, Asghar S, Byler D. A Comprehensive Review of Tourette Syndrome and Complementary Alternative Medicine. Curr Dev Disord Rep. 2018;5(2):95–100. doi:10.1007/s40474-018-0137-2

3. Eddy CM, Rickards HE, Cavanna AE. Treatment strategies for tics in Tourette syndrome. Ther Adv Neurol Disord. 2011;4(1):25–45. doi:10.1177/1756285610390261

4. https://tourette.org/research-medical/medical-marijuana

Nevada’s governor expressed outrage Friday and vowed to tighten control of the state’s lucrative legal marijuana marketplace in response to reports that a foreign national contributed to two top state political candidates last year in a bid to skirt rules to open a legal cannabis store.

Gov. Steve Sisolak declared in a statement that there has been “lack of oversight and inaction” of the recreational and medical pot industry by the state Marijuana Enforcement Division. He also said he is commissioning a multi-agency task force to “root out potential corruption or criminal influences in Nevada’s marijuana marketplace.”

The Democratic governor pointed to a federal indictment made public Thursday in New York alleging that a man identified as having “Russian roots” funneled $10,000 each to the Republican campaigns of Adam Laxalt and Wesley Duncan.

The indictment included a conspiracy charge against four men, including two with ties to President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, and the Ukraine investigation at the center of impeachment proceedings.

Laxalt lost the race for Nevada governor. Duncan ran unsuccessfully for attorney general.

Both said Thursday through spokesmen that they would return the donations they received a week before the November 2018 election from a donor named Igor Fruman. Federal prosecutors allege that Fruman, a Ukrainian-born U.S. citizen, was acting on behalf of an unnamed foreign national.

Duncan’s representative did not immediately respond to messages Friday.

Laxalt, through spokesman Robert Uithoven, said it is “absurd that the governor is trying to pin this on me.”

He noted the indictment said the alleged scheme was concealed from candidates, campaigns, federal regulators and the public.

Laxalt also accused Sisolak of accepting campaign money from marijuana businesses and failing “to clean up the problem while in office.”

Sisolak’s statement acknowledged “illegal sales to minors, serious allegations of manipulated lab results and a licensing process mired in litigation.” It said the governor will speed up oversight that was to be assigned to a yet-to-begin state Cannabis Compliance Board.

“Yesterday’s indictments and their connections to Nevada, in combination with ongoing issues in Nevada’s legalized marijuana industry … have led the governor to expedite regulatory and enforcement measures,” spokesman Ryan McInerney said in the statement.

The governor referred to revelations in testimony during court hearings in Las Vegas this summer stemming from failed bidders’ claims that the licensing process was rife with mistakes and bias. Dozens of companies argued the state should redo a process that awarded 61 new dispensary licenses last December to 16 businesses among 462 applications.

“Effective immediately,” Sisolak’s statement said, “any marijuana entity — licensed or unlicensed — that violates the law will see swift and severe criminal and regulatory action.”

McInerney did not immediately respond to messages seeking details.

The statement called the governor “disappointed in the lack of oversight and … inaction from the state over many years that led us to this critical juncture.”

It pointed to the “apparent absence of a single criminal referral by the Marijuana Enforcement Division since the inception of licensed marijuana sales, medical or recreational, in Nevada.”

Nevada voters legalized medical marijuana in 2000 and approved recreational use in a separate ballot measure in 2016.

Oregon legislators established a moratorium on new recreational marijuana producer licenses earlier this year to manage an oversupply of product in the state.

But not everyone agrees there’s an oversupply.

SB 218 authorized a producer moratorium through Jan. 2, 2022, based on a January 2019 OLCC study that said in part, “As of Jan. 1, 2019, the recreational market has 6.5 years’ worth of theoretical supply in licensees’ inventory accounted for and contained within Oregon’s Cannabis Tracking System.”

Some wholesale and retail outlets at an OLCC listening session in July in Ashland said they were having trouble sourcing quality product. They were also concerned that the moratorium was a short-term fix that would cause market swings with unintended consequences.

“They [the Oregon Legislature] wanted a moratorium because we had a glut of marijuana in this state and a lot of the industry itself was asking for controls on reduction,” stated OLCC Executive Director Steve Marks at the listening session.

“Our study said there’s 6.5 theoretical years of supply inside the system, and there wasn’t,” Marks admitted. “That’s all products, and that didn’t include waste. So people’s understanding was conflated.”

“Across the board in the last 3 to 6 months, everyone is reporting a shortage in a significant portion of the supply chain,” said Brad Bogus, vice president of marketing at Confident Cannabis, a company that analyzes Oregon’s metrics through its sales and inventory management software. “Either they’re not able to find flower at the conditions they’re looking for or they can’t find the lower-price flower they could find six months ago, and the prices are starting to rapidly rise.”

Higher prices for recreational marijuana means better margins for producers and everyone else in the seed-to-sale continuum. Consumers are feeling the pinch as retail prices go up for mid-market, premium and ultra-premium product.

“Three months ago I could find marijuana as low as $250 a pound, and I’m seeing that same pot today at $600,” said Jeff Dillard, who runs West Coast Organic in Brookings. “But if you want a quality product, you have to pay for it.”

The recreational marijuana market is driven by flower, big perfect buds for retail and the thousands and thousands of pounds that processors require weekly.

BDS Analytics, which monitors aggregated industry data, reported that for 2019 2nd quarter, Oregon had $197.34 million in recreational marijuana sales with 29.99 million gram units sold, 46% in flower, 30% in concentrates, 12% in edibles and 11% in other products.

Some say that in late 2018 and early 2019, processors bought up available marijuana inventory at low prices and processed bud for concentrates and edibles, because these products store well and can wait in inventory for price increases.

One problem, says Spencer Mullen, who runs Pharmer’s Market in White City as a wholesaler and Rogue Valley retail stores called Pharm to Table, is that cannabis molds easily, so warehoused bud or “fresh” product may be lower quality, and while it can be stored, it is expensive to do so.

Stable temperatures, lower storage temperatures, nitrogen injection and low humidity can help preserve freshness and smokability in warehoused marijuana for up to about two years, according to Dillard, though others suggest 8 months is the maximum storage time before weed turns dark and loses potency.

Regulating a new controlled substance is complicated at best, and predicting market demand is never easy. The cannabis industry and OLCC expected some early disruption and market adjustment. With Oregon’s easy entry to the market in early years, more recreational marijuana was grown in 2017 than could be absorbed by Oregon’s processing and warehouse infrastructure, and prices for flower dropped in 2018.

“Small mom and pops to really large scale, really well funded companies collapsed because they underestimated the amount of money it would take to survive through the crash,” explained Mullen.

“You saw people who were barely staying alive in 2018; even indoors cut way back on their production. Now that the market is stabilizing, we’ll see what happens,” Mullen added.

Confident Cannabis metrics suggest that the current shortage is more than a mid-summer seasonal dip — indoor grows can’t produce the volume needed for the current market, and outdoor harvests won’t come to market until January.

Bogus says that many greenhouses have shut down, savvy rec growers have reduced production and countless growers have diverted agricultural production to hemp.

“By limiting the market it might fix the problem right now, but when the market opens up [with federal deregulation of interstate commerce], I’m concerned that we won’t be able to find any product,” Mullen said. “It’s going to be messy, and a lot of money lost until we have a larger market to give us more stability.”

As of Sept. 19, there were 1,147 active recreational marijuana producer licenses statewide, with another 2,216 new producer license applications in the OLCC backlog — meaning the number of growers statewide would triple if OLCC approved all of the applications in the backlog.

Jackson County had 237 active producer licenses as of Sept. 19, with 438 applications in the OLCC backlog, the most in Oregon in both categories.

Josephine County had 171 active licenses, with 358 stalled by the moratorium, the second-most in both categories.