Opinion

The Industrial Waste Machine; Are Cannabis Companies Trashing Viable Products?

Written by Nicholas Demski

How the focused selection and purification of THC by cannabis companies is disposing of sellable byproducts and foregoing potential profit.

Do you grow your own plants? Not just Cannabis, any plants?

If you do, you might be aware that what grows and what you consume are not equivalent.

Consider carrots: you eat the orange part and throw out the green. However, this is a mistake; the greens are 100% edible (though a tad bitter).

Furthermore, if you were to chop off the top of the carrot and place it in a bowl of water on the windowsill, the greens will regrow.

With this in mind, it’s easy to see how we are wasting easily consumable byproducts. The same thing is happening in the cannabis industry.

As companies seek to create potent extractions, they focus themselves on a particular compound. More recently, extractions have focused on terpenes, but, the most commonly extracted compound is THC.

Useful for creating tinctures, butter, shatter, wax, and crumble, THC is the most highly sought after compound in the cannabis market. However, as consumer intelligence increases and people realize the benefits of cannabis’ other compounds, the heavy focus on THC extraction has lead to the waste of compounds like CBD.

Figure 1 Are companies leaving money on the table when they dispose of their CBD?

Perfect for pain relief and sedative effects without the psychoactive impact of consuming cannabis flower, CBD is quickly becoming a niche product for people looking for medication with the ‘stoned’ feeling commonly associated with smoking pure flower.

CBD consumers represent a portion of the cannabis market that should not be overlooked. As was pointed out in last weeks’ article, there are many opportunities, from PR to profit, to reuse this vital cannabinoid by purely THC manufacturers who are currently dumping them out.

What could these companies do with this compound they are uninterested in?

For starters, they could sell it themselves in a new product. This might not be a viable option, however.

Another suggestion would be to sell the raw CBD directly to another company that can turn it into a viable product.

Whatever they do, companies should not be trashing their CBD.

I have that thought every time I watch someone cut off the ends of the carrots and throw them in the trash. Why waste what could be used at no extra cost?

Why throw away what could potentially improve your profit margins? If you’re part of a company extracting for THC, consider rethinking your approach and utilizing the CBD that you’ve been tossing away.

About the author

Nicholas Demski

Nicholas Demski's latest venture is TheCannabiologist.com. He's a poet, author, cannabis writer, and budding entrepreneur. You can follow his travels with his daughter on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram @TheSingleDadNoma