Cannabis dispensary CEO: Consumers are influencing the potency levels of legal marijuana

Ryan Fox, owner of The Grass Station dispensaries, says today’s cannabis customers are better educated about the types of legal marijuana currently available, and how those different strains might affect them

DENVER (October 22, 2015) -- Is the legal marijuana sold today more potent than the pot your parents or even grandparents smoked?

According to the University of Washington’s Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute (ADAI), today’s cannabis is indeed stronger than it used to be, but nowhere near as strong as has been described in some media reports.

ADAI says that, depending on the type of analysis and the samples being analyzed, “marijuana strength has increased by two to seven times since the 1970s, measured by THC levels.”

Another major difference, according to the Institute, is that marijuana users back in the 1960s, 70s and 80s were more likely to be consuming marijuana leaves rather than the more potent flowers, or buds, of the cannabis plant.

Ryan Fox, founder and CEO of the Denver-based Grass Station, notes that the 21 strains of award-winning cannabis he has created for sale at his dispensaries can run the gamut when it comes to THC percentages. Some are on the low end, with their percentage of THC – the chemical compound that gives marijuana its “high” – coming in around 15 percent. Other strains, however, can be quite high, with THC levels approaching a “brain-tingling” 30 percent.

“But I don’t think that a higher THC number necessarily means you’re going to be higher,” he says. “I think a lot of a cannabis strain’s effects are directly related to its quality, and how the farming and agriculture behind that cannabis has helped to produce a better product.”

Fox says a lot of his customers, especially the Baby Boomers now in their 50s and 60s, laugh at how much more potent marijuana is now. But a big difference between cannabis now and “back in the day” is how the different strains have been engineered for particular uses by legal marijuana consumers.

“We’re now seeing customers coming in and looking for specific results from their cannabis,” he adds. “Some are dealing with depression and anxiety; others might be looking for help with chronic pain. And then there are consumers who want a product that can help them celebrate the end of a long week but that allows them to stay active and alert, and not knock them onto the couch.”

And as a result cannabis consumers, says Fox, are “getting smarter” when it comes to their purchases.

“Everyone knows a lot of different things about the production and consumption of pot,” he says, “due to all the information available since the legalization of recreational cannabis here in Colorado and elsewhere. And our sales staff is also trained to help with that education process.”

“So we’re seeing an evolution in how people consume marijuana,” Fox continues, “and that direct and indirect consumer feedback is also affecting how the legal cannabis industry produces different marijuana strains of different potencies.”