With retail cannabis creating an exciting new emerging market, plenty of people have been hopping on the bandwagon – Colorado created 16,000 new jobs in the marijuana industry in the last year alone, and plenty of people watching from afar are seeing dollar $ign$.
Bethenny Frankel, an entrepreneur who has a presence on one of those reality shows that you’re embarrassed to admit you binge watch (“The Real Housewives of New York”), seems to be proclaiming herself a “ganja-preneur” now, too. She has seen the success of Skinnygirl, her line of low-calorie cocktails, and now she’s decided she wants to make a line of cannabis products that don’t produce the “munchies” effect.
This is a bit difficult to comprehend for a variety of reasons:
- Many cannabis consumers like the appetite stimulation that comes from cannabis, as they enjoy the experience of eating more thanks the the added jolt of dopamine courtesy of THC.
- Medical marijuana patients often use cannabis to help counteract the nausea and lack of appetite that stems from the disease or disorder they’re fighting or the side effects from their stronger, more harsh medications.
- These Skinnygirl strains would offer little to no medicinal value for patients (and, for this reason, would likely be marketed exclusively as retail products).
Let’s examine this from a chemical overview. If you were to create a strain with no appetite stimulant, you’d end up with the following results:
- The strain would have to be high in THCV, a compound that produces a strongly psychoactive effect with high energy and diminished appetite. However, the effects wouldn’t last long and THCV is usually only found in trace amounts of cannabis.
- It would also have to be high in humulene, a compound found in hops and coriander, which also diminishes the appetite in addition to having anti-inflammatory properties.
- The strain would likely need to be low in ∆9 THC, the most prominent intoxicating compound, due to its inherent appetite stimulant.
- The strain would need to be low in limonene, which is the compound that generally settles the stomach.
In layman’s terms, the Skinnygirl strain (if it were to come to fruition) would be:
- Super high energy;
- Super short-lasting;
- Psychoactive for a short period of time;
- Might cause some tummy troubles.
Would people buy it? Celebrity status is enough to ensure that. Would it be good? That remains to be seen — what’s your take?
