Buzz
Shopping for cannabis is unpredictable. There's hardly ever a consistent experience with weed, and replicating it is even more challenging. For newcomers, these inconsistencies can make cannabis feel like too much to deal with. As a result, marketing tries to position cannabis products as innovative and unique solutions to cut through the confusion, but it's tough to promise anything definitive.
Many of these newer cannabis products claim to address common problems like insomnia, appetite loss, or body aches. While cannabis isn’t FDA-regulated, meaning manufacturers can't make solid health claims, a lot of brands still like to hint that their products have therapeutic properties.
Simplified marketing around cannabis can create confusion. Myths arise, like the idea that CBD is a universal cure and THC is a shortcut to unlocking creativity. Though these marketing strategies aim to get people excited about cannabis, they often oversimplify and box products in, ignoring the unknowns of cannabis science as it exists today.
Discussions around cannabis and its effects are often influenced by a common, sometimes unspoken truth: research still hasn't caught up to the reality. A 2020 Science review revealed that two-thirds of the $1.56 billion spent on cannabis research in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. was allocated to studying misuse and negative effects. As a result, research into cannabis’s benefits and alternative uses remains severely underfunded, constantly battling misleading media headlines about its dangers. Meanwhile, individuals with legitimate medical needs often have to resort to trial and error with little guidance.
Bridging the Knowledge Gap
With science still lagging behind, marketing filled the void by making educated guesses, giving rise to the effects-driven product category. As the cannabis market shifted away from the old, hippie-inspired aesthetic to a more modern and polished look, the same consumer trends that shape other industries began influencing the weed market.
Jordana Wright, a photographer and author who wrote an entire book about using cannabis to improve creativity, explained why cannabis marketers focus on its effect on activities. She told us via email, “cannabis isn’t like typical pharmaceuticals, where your outcomes are relatively predictable.” While cannabis may boost creativity for some, claiming a strain is “good for creativity” is mostly useless, as its effects vary widely from person to person. “All cannabis products have value,” Wright noted, but “whether the effects align with what’s on the label depends on how your body responds. However, if there are cannabinoids in the product, it will have some kind of effect.”
Brands approach single-focus marketing by reverse engineering, using pure cannabinoid distillates and added terpenes to craft a composite concentrate, which is then incorporated into edibles, capsules, drinks, vape cartridges, and even joints. The theory is that by carefully isolating and measuring these compounds, the experience will be consistent with every use.
While you might notice some consistency with each use of a specially designed product, your body will still react differently due to variables like your weight, what you've eaten that day, and any other medications you're taking. There's no guarantee you'll experience the same effects twice, let alone that a specific effect will be consistent for everyone.
When researching for Cannabis for Creatives, I interviewed experts in neuroscience and cannabis genetics. All agreed that although cannabis does produce certain effects, those effects are too unpredictable to be quantified, varying based on factors like body chemistry, dosage, and usage method,” Wright explained. The experience really depends on what you're seeking, as well as how specific the claimed effects are, whether it’s a single strain or a blend.
“We might convince ourselves that the marketing claims on the package will create a certain feeling, but that’s more of a placebo effect,” Wright said. “For example, I might always feel energized from Blue Dream, but it could have the opposite effect on someone else, making them feel more relaxed. It’s just as much about how our bodies respond to the strains as it is about the strains themselves.”
Proposing effects as a middle ground
Not all growers embrace a direct approach. Sarah Aziz, the founder of Sundazed, a California-based cannabis company, produces beautifully packaged, flavorful products that don’t claim to dictate how you should feel, but rather suggest what you might experience. Many consumers aren’t familiar with terpenes or why they matter, so using these flavorful, experience-altering chemicals to hint at potential effects is more useful than labeling a product with a single, definitive outcome.
“THC impacts areas of the brain responsible for pleasure, cognition, movement, sensory/time perception, and other functions,” Aziz explained to Mytour. “We use the term ‘effects’ to clearly convey to the consumer what they can expect, ensuring they align with the experience they’re about to have.”
For Sundazed, this approach means labeling a sativa-dominant strain with citrusy terps as “Glow Up,” and telling smokers that the effects are suggested, with the possibility of feeling motivated, uplifted, or energized, as people often report being ‘up’ from strains with citrus notes. “The effects we list are based on terpenes, which is grounded in science, but it’s also a way to market the expected experience because many consumers don’t want to dive into the specifics of terpenes,” Aziz said.
If you're new to the experience, you can use these suggestions to help find the strains that may offer what you're seeking, and there’s no issue with preferring distillate-based cannabis products as long as you're enjoying the experience. But to discover the strains or designer effects-based products that are right for you, you need to try them out. Some people find they can enjoy most strains, while others with more sensitive reactions need to be more discerning about what they choose.
Eventually, scientific research will uncover more details about how cannabis works. It’s not far-fetched to think this information could eventually be provided in the form of a test or profile to guide you toward your ideal cannabis experience. But for now—and this can be attributed to the stigma from prohibition and the lack of support for positive cannabis research—trial and error is the industry's standard approach.
