There is more to cannabis than just THC. All you have to do is look at the huge increase in CBD popularity or hemp beauty products. However, when it comes to moving products on the recreational market; what really matters is the price and the THC content.
According to Forbes, super-potent cannabis flower with THC percentages of 25 percent and up dominate dispensary shelves. High-THC cannabis sells very quickly while lower-percentage cannabis gathers dust.
When cannabis tests at more than 25 percent THC, dispensaries can justify charging $75 or more for a store-bought eighth—because there’s a very good chance people will pay it, confident that they’re taking home the best and most potent weed available. If the THC percentage is in the teens people expect that it will be cheap.
We are here to tell you that this is all wrong. THC content has nothing to do with how “good” the weed is, according to a study conducted by the University of Colorado, and THC content is also a poor indicator of potency.
High-THC weed doesn’t even get you “higher”! In an experiment run by the University of Colorado Boulder, one-half of 121 participants were given lower “strength” cannabis with lower THC concentrations, and the other half received high potency concentrations. As the researchers expected, the concentrate users had very high levels of THC in their bodies after use. But they weren’t “higher.”
In fact, every participants’ “highness” was about the same—“as were their measures of balance and cognitive impairment,” the University explained. Whether it is medium THC flower or high-THC flower it’s all the same high!
16 percent THC compared to 24 percent THC is a big difference—50 percent “stronger.” How can users of such different “strength” products report such similar psychoactive effects?
In the simplest terms, there is a lot more that goes into a good high than just THC concentration. Judging weed by it’s THC content is like judging a movie by its lead actor alone. A high-THC percentage is not a guarantee of a good high, just like how one good actor can’t make a good movie on their own.
Forbes says that a good way—maybe the best way—to determine if cannabis will be good, or at least good for you, is to smell it. There are aromatic compounds called terpenes that play into how cannabis affects the mind and body. Terpenes, THC, and cannabinoids all work in tandem, and terpenes can sometimes be the best indicator of a good high. However, in legal markets like California, smelling your way to good weed is virtually impossible. California’s cannabis is sold in prepackaged containers, and the coronavirus pandemic eliminated what limited opportunities there were to smell cannabis. Some shops let you wave under your nose a designated “smell jar”—a few buds in a container with a perforated lid, but in most shops, this is no longer an option.
With so many believers in high-THC being equivalent to getting “higher” it’s unlikely that studies like this one will change the market patterns of pricing. However, with this knowledge, it will be easier for you to escape the traps of paying more for a high that may not actually be better! At the end of the day, it’s all up to personal preference, and we know we prefer Kind’s high quality, top-notch cannabis. Remember to always be Kind!
