The race for all-powerful pot

At Stiiizy, the bestselling cannabis brand in America, the goal is explicit: producing powerful and cheap marijuana.
Inside its Los Angeles headquarters, crews dust joints with concentrated THC, the intoxicating component of cannabis. They package pocket-size vape cartridges that promise “the highest potency possible.” On its website, the company declares that “it has never been easier (or quicker) to get silly high for an affordable price.”
Dispensaries operating under the brand of another leading company, Cookies, have promoted “powerful medical benefits,” including “cancer fighting” qualities. A cannabis-infused chocolate bar was, until recently, described as containing properties “beneficial to those suffering” from glaucoma, bacterial infections and Huntington’s disease.
More than a decade after states began legalizing recreational marijuana, businesses are enticing customers with unproven health claims while largely escaping rigorous oversight. A New York Times review of 20 of the largest brands found that most were selling products with such claims, potentially violating federal and state regulations. And as companies compete, potency has gone up – with some products advertised as having as much as 99% THC – and prices have gone down.
“What we’re seeing is really a race to the bottom,” said Matt Zehner, a senior analyst at Brightfield Group, which tracks the legal cannabis industry.
Some executives said their companies are trying to navigate complex rules while satisfying their customers. Stiiizy’s co-founder and CEO, James Kim, said that many are heavy users in search of a good deal.
But in a $32 billion industry that has been volatile – only about a quarter of businesses turned a profit last year, one survey found – companies say they also face pressure to do whatever they can to survive.
Because marijuana remains illegal at the federal level, businesses have difficulty getting bank loans, are barred from routine tax breaks and can’t transport products across state lines. Prices have dropped amid an oversupply and a persistent rivalry with the illegal cannabis trade. And the industry faces a growing threat from intoxicating hemp-derived compounds such as Delta-8, which can be sold with fewer restrictions.
As companies transform cannabis and how it is used and perceived, public health experts are increasingly alarmed.
“When companies make unproven health claims about their products, it can put consumers at risk,” said Rosalie Liccardo Pacula, a professor at the University of Southern California.
Nearly 18 million Americans report using marijuana daily or almost daily – more than the number drinking alcohol that often – according to a national survey. A growing number are enduring addiction, psychosis and other harms, a Times investigation last year found.
States have taken some steps to protect consumers, such as requiring testing for contaminants, prohibiting advertising that might appeal to minors and capping THC levels in edibles. But there are many gaps, and some of the existing rules are vague or unevenly enforced, the Times found.
In statehouses across the country, cannabis lobbyists have successfully resisted additional restrictions, telling lawmakers that further constraints would send consumers to the illegal market and cost states tax revenue. As public health advocates seek greater protections, they are up against an industry that downplays or rejects evidence of harm.
“They deny the science,” said state Sen. Jesse Salomon of Washington, who for years has seen regulatory bills fail after industry pushback. “They undermine the science. If they can’t deny it, they go around the science.”
When states began legalizing marijuana for recreational use in 2012, they set off a “green rush” of venture capitalists, entrepreneurs and other investors pouring money into cannabis brands, dispensaries, cultivators and technologies. Large companies operating in multiple states acquired smaller ones and began to dominate the market.
Where activists and doctors had once argued for marijuana’s potential as medicine, many newcomers were drawn to its potential for profits. And as the face of the industry changed, so did the products.
More growers embraced breeding techniques to increase the potency of smokable marijuana, pushing the THC levels to as much as 30%. (The typical level a generation ago was less than 5%.) Cannabis vapes, infused prerolled joints and high-intensity THC beverages now line dispensary shelves. And many businesses sell concentrates, some promoting nearly 100% THC.
Matthew Kim, the chief innovation officer at Jetty Extracts, recalled being “scared” when high-potency products first hit the market and he saw the effects on his friends. “You can take one puff of it, and it’ll knock you out,” he said in an interview. He said he believed that some of the public health concerns about concentrates were valid. But, he added, “The genie’s out of the bottle. And it’s up to us to figure out a way to not cause too much harm.”
Jetty’s marketing director, Kate Ransom, defended potent products and said people should be able to make their own choices. “The dispensaries are catering to high-dose consumers because that’s who is spending the most money, and so that’s actually the free market at work.”
More than half of monthly sales at retailers come from just 20% of customers, who favor higher-potency products, according to an analysis by Mitchell Laferla, a senior data analyst at Headset.
While marijuana flower is still the most popular form overall, the use of edibles, vapes and concentrates is on the rise, surveys show. As they embrace these products, many users interviewed by the Times said they had been unaware of the risks.
Trapper Schoepp, a 34-year-old singer-songwriter, started buying high-potency marijuana from dispensaries to replace the prescription opioids he had abused for chronic back pain after spinal surgery. “It seemed to be a sort of catchall, one-puff wellness plant,” he said.
Instead, Schoepp recalled, he became dependent, vaping constantly even as he experienced increasing anxiety and began having paranoid delusions. He entered rehab and was diagnosed with severe cannabis use disorder. Nine months sober, he said he still battles intense cravings.
“All the marketing surrounding cannabis was that it was a pain reliever,” he said. “So I bought into that.”
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration prohibits companies from claiming that products can treat disease without going through the agency’s regulatory approval process for drugs.
The Times examined product listings on Weedmaps – a major cannabis e-commerce website – posted for 20 of the country’s top-selling cannabis brands. Of those, 16 had products that potentially violated FDA rules because the descriptions included health claims.
They invoked dozens of conditions, including depression, anxiety, insomnia, inflammation, post-traumatic stress disorder, swelling, migraines, cramping, hypertension, arthritis, muscle spasms, mood swings, asthma, anorexia, PMS and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Descriptions on Weedmaps for the brand Cookies implied that some products could help treat bipolar disorder and other health problems. Listings for products from another company, Illicit, said they could help with symptoms of multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease.
Many of the health claims reviewed by the Times appeared to violate some state rules. But many state cannabis regulators don’t have the resources for enforcement beyond labels and packaging, said Gillian Schauer, executive director of the Cannabis Regulators Association.
After being contacted by the Times, many of the health claims for at least nine of the 16 companies, including Cookies and Illicit, were removed. Some responded that the language had been inadvertent or outdated.
A Cookies spokesperson said the company was not responsible for writing the claims published on Weedmaps or Cookies-branded store websites and had asked them to address the issue. Cookies also updated a disclaimer to say that products’ efficacy had not been confirmed by FDA-approved research. An Illicit spokesperson said the brand is committed to complying with regulations. Weedmaps did not respond to requests for comment.
While the industry argues for marijuana to be legalized – and regulated – at the federal level, it has also fought many attempts at regulation by states.
Last January, Ryan Orrison, then the director of a youth sobriety support group in Washington state, joined state health officials, pediatricians and university researchers in supporting a fifth attempt in five years to tighten restrictions on high-potency cannabis.
Faced with industry opposition, each proposed bill had been less ambitious than the last. This one would have barred consumers younger than 25 from buying cannabis concentrates with more than 35% THC.
It also would have directed more than $3 million to a University of Washington research institute, in part to advise health care providers on harmful effects from cannabis.
The industry pushed back, arguing that consumers should have legal access to high-potency cannabis so they can be assured of its quality, rather than turning to the illicit market or hemp products online.
The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Lauren Davis, said the committee leaders had told her the bill would die if it included any mention of the research institute, which the industry accused of being biased after it warned of the dangers of high-THC products. The version that passed included some new initiatives, such as requiring dispensaries to post signs about potential health risks, but no potency caps, age restrictions or dedicated funding for the institute.
But Davis is not giving up. She plans to introduce legislation to another committee this month that would prohibit all concentrates exceeding 35% THC, with exemptions for medical use.
“The industry needs limits,” she said.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.