Using science to create a winning marijuana industry

Using science to create a winning marijuana industry On November 15, at the Science Symposium of MJBizCon, Markus Roggan, president and chief scientific officer of Delic Labs, a Vancouver, British Columbia-based company, will present. “R&D as a Business Tool: Maximizing Revenue by Focusing on the Scientific Method,” is the title of his presentation. The news that President Joe Biden will pardon thousands of people who were convicted of federal marijuana possession charges has sparked a lot of excitement within the marijuana industry.

Although share prices ultimately declined, even the Canadian stock market had an excitement about it. Although it doesn’t make much sense, it’s a welcome change from the continuous news of Canadian cannabis companies going bankrupt. I can’t help but see gloom and doom around. Even major mainstream publications have written about the problems facing the North American cannabis business. Similar to cannabis itself, there is an abundance of this barrage of bad news. Naturally, the sector is sounding the alarm, and the root of the problem is clear.

The legalization of cannabis across the continent was half-baked, inconsistent, and taxed too heavily by the government. That implies that we are not to blame. Not quite. As a child, I gained important knowledge from practicing sports. Most of the time, you are to blame. It’s critical to recognize obstacles as well as come up with solutions for them.

The cannabis sector can advance in the following five areas:

This is not a legitimate substitute for the black market.

Cannabis industry experts frequently gripe about lengthy license wait times, onerous business regulations, and even inspectors who are too picky.
But compared to the illegal drug trade that this industry is meant to supplant, the legal cannabis market is radically different.
For starters, it is less dangerous and has less crime than, say, a Mexican drug cartel.
A legal market creates opportunities for innovative procedures and goods that demand effort, cooperation, and financial investments.

Consider a broad perspective on particular issues, such as testing and taxation.

High taxes appear to be the top grievance voiced by cannabis industry executives.
Particularly in the United States, where Section 280E of the federal tax code makes paying taxes challenging and unfair. Taxes are just another expense, though.
Production costs are an additional expense that many people overlook. The former is largely outside of our control, but the latter is completely within it.
One choice is to reduce salaries for workers, which is a common business tactic. But there are better approaches.
Every marijuana producer, as we have seen in our work, has inefficiencies.
Every month, bad production practices cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Running extraction machinery at 50% capacity is one illustration.
The burden of compliance testing is the next most common grievance.
Testing might be expensive, but it can also be beneficial to marijuana. And instead of testing less, we ought to do more if we want to save money.
Failed batches are another expense associated with testing and are the primary cause of overall testing costs.
More tests aren’t necessarily better; they can be worse. Marijuana products can be promoted in novel ways by broadening the range of tests available to marijuana.
THC is not the be-all and end-all of product quality, as we already know.
Consumer appreciation of terpenes is already increasing, and testing enables us to display terpene content on labels.
Failures will be discovered sooner and waste will be decreased by conducting more quality-control testing before the cannabis product undergoes compliance testing. Better testing procedures might also be beneficial.
For heavy-metal analysis, for instance, we created a pooled testing technique that might reduce testing costs by more than 50%.
Cannabis is essentially an organically grown produce as a result of all the compliance testing, but every year people die from tainted lettuce.
We can confidently claim that cannabis is safer than salad, but we haven’t actually used that phrase yet.

Request if you should rather than if you could.

Focusing on the upcoming/new/revolutionary aspect of cannabis marketing without properly executing the high-volume items already in existence, in my opinion, is foolish.
Some ridiculous things are available on the market, leaving you to ponder “what were they thinking?”
Despite their absurdity, goods containing delta 8-THC have the potential to be hazardous. Examples include CBD pillows and mascara.
These goods address producers’ issues, such as how to deal with the glut of CBD and falling commodity prices.
The customer’s needs are disregarded.
According to economic theory, effective products address a need. What issues do consumers have then? At the very least, what goods do they actually purchase that could be improved? Pre-roll sales have increased 39% year over year to a total of $1.2 billion. Additionally, infused pre-rolls, which account for 19% of total pre-roll sales, have been gradually increasing.
Pre-rolls are clearly in high demand, and the market has reacted by providing both regular and infused varieties.
There is where we should concentrate our efforts and create even better pre-roll products.

Consult an expert. It will be fruitful.

There are many different types of professionals and personalities in the marijuana market.
According to a condensed timeline of folks I’ve met at conferences, there were many legacy growers and civil rights advocates in the mid-2010s.
The legacy growers gradually withdrew from the conferences or switched to licensed production after that.
Frontiersmen who enjoyed gold panning and adventure arrived. Men in suits, including attorneys and real estate agents, were next. By 2020, a white male with a degree in finance or law will be the prototypical marijuana CEO.
Why is the sector currently performing so poorly if these individuals and their qualifications are the ideal fit?
It’s time to consult a fresh group of professionals. To adapt production, processes, and products to the market of the twenty-first century, we need scientists and engineers.

Select a compelling narrative and stick with it.

Marijuana is lauded as a panacea for ailments and financial issues.
As confused and numerous as the claims made by the businesses are the proposed benefits.
Businesses frequently claim to be pharmaceutical firms while mentioning cannabis’ purported medical benefits. They are not even close to being pharmaceutical companies.
The fact that some of these same businesses also market recreational goods makes the situation much more confusing. Similar to Walgreens selling cigarettes, this is incoherent.
If cannabis businesses, and even the industry as a whole, are switching from one strategy to the next and continually shifting their beliefs, how can we hope to build knowledgeable and devoted customers?
I believe there is tremendous risk in continuously promoting recreational products while touting the alleged health benefits of cannabis.