It’s time for data to replace anecdotal “opinions” when it comes to communicating the effects of cannabis.
- “This gives you more of a body high.”
- “This one is really strong and lasts all day.”
- “This one sort of sneaks up on you.”
If you’ve ever shopped in a cannabis retail store, you’ve probably heard the budtenders describing specific products using this kind of language. They are trying to be helpful, but in reality the information that they are providing doesn’t really mean very much. That’s because it’s not based on anything other than word of mouth – and perhaps personal experience. It certainly isn’t rooted in actual data. As a result, customers don’t know what they are getting until they experience it for themselves after they leave the store. There has to be a better way.
This is where neuroscience comes into the picture. If you think about it, the entire discipline of neuroscience is based around measuring and understanding how the brain works and responds to external stimuli. Quite literally, it is the perfect approach to measuring the experience cannabis creates for consumers, and is exactly why we founded Zentrela. We wanted to apply science to the inexact world of cannabis effect measurement to empower producers, retailers, and consumers to make informed decisions based on actual data, not random strings of adjectives.
It’s not like there isn’t data out there, but it’s not the right kind of data. If you look at any packaged cannabis products sold in Canada, you will clearly see the percentages of THC and/or CBD on the package. You will probably also be able to find out information about terpene levels. All of that is worth knowing, but it doesn’t really tell you anything about how a particular product is going to affect you. Something with a very high THC level might “spike” sharply but not have a long-lasting effect, whereas a beverage with a comparatively low level of THC can impact brain function for many hours.
This lack of knowledge isn’t good for anyone.
- It’s not good for consumers because they don’t know what the effects will be on their body. If you drink a beer or a cocktail, you pretty much know how it will hit you because proof level is the only factor in play.
- It’s not good for retailers because a lack of empirical information makes it difficult for them to effectively sell the right products to customers based on their desires.
- It’s not good for licensed producers because they have no real way to differentiate themselves in a crowded market space other than defaulting to highlighting the chemical analysis of their products or competing on price.
What is needed is nothing short of a revolution in how the effects of cannabis products are measured and communicated. Zentrela has developed proprietary technology, including the Cognalyzer, to measure the effects of cannabis products on the human brain in a laboratory setting. We conduct dozens of sessions for each cannabis product and collect the data to create a “profile” of how specific products affect different types of consumers in the real world. Test subjects come to our laboratory in Hamilton, Ontario for a six-hour session to measure and monitor their brain waves as they consume cannabis products. AI-based algorithms follow a scientifically-validated and objective method for converting this uninterpretable EEG data into a quantitative value in a scale of 0% – 100%.This allows us to provide actual data – not just anecdotal commentary – on the consumer experience generated by specific cannabis products.
We live in a data-driven world where empirical evidence informs almost every aspect of how we make decisions. It is unfathomable that cannabis products do not yet benefit from this approach. It is our mission to remove the guesswork and allow everyone to make informed choices when it comes to what they put in their bodies.
