Health Canada is responsible for producer licenses, package design, and medical cannabis sales.
Cannabis retailing, like alcohol, is regulated by the province. In Ontario, a provincial agency is responsible for wholesale and online sales. One agency is responsible for retail licenses and employee qualification.
Preventing defects
This regulatory approach focuses on conformance with rules and specifications. conformance is important to prevent consumer harm and product defects.
Cannabis producers, for example, must adhere to Health Canada’s Guidelines for Good Production Practices. These include testing to ensure products don’t contain pesticides or mould, but do contain the promised levels of THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) and CBD (cannabidiol).
This testing will help make legal products more reliable than those sold on the black market. users have reported that their legal, moderately-strength products give the same high they get from their illegal, high-strength ones. Some illicit suppliers overstate the attributes of their products. They know that they will not be tested.
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Health Canada also requires producers and distributors to track all their cannabis . Each month they must report the amounts harvested, processed, or sold.
Many organizations go beyond these legal minimums. Retailers, for example, are not required to test their products. Quebec’s cannabis agency, however, tests ten products per supplier every month to verify their content.
Some producers have also adopted ISO 9000 , which is an international quality standard. others have formed cannabis industry association.
Growing from Cuttings
To ensure consistency, producers do other things. Most grow plants from cuttings instead of seeds. It helps the plants to match their “mother”‘s traits.
Indoor growing also helps to improve consistency. Indoor growing is more expensive than open fields or greenhouses, but you have more control over the conditions.
Producers must strive to deliver high-quality cannabis while also focusing on science. Esteban Lopez/Unsplash
Problems can still occur despite all efforts. Since October, 13 cannabis-based products have been recalled by producers. Some products had errors on the label. Others were mold contamination, inadequate THC, and unlicensed products.
Health Canada urges users to report any side effects that they may experience as a result of cannabis use.
Consumers want to gain benefits as well. Consumers also want to benefit.
Designing products
Producers must, therefore, design products that satisfy and delight customers. It’s difficult to ensure design of high quality. consumer preferences are diverse, and there are many product design options.
Cannabis dried for smoking is the most basic form of cannabis product. Even this requires a lot of decisions. The producers must choose plant varieties and grow conditions that produce top shelf flowers. They must decide whether they want to sell their product as pre-rolled joints, dried flowers or filter-tipped “cigarettes”.
The process of extracting oils and other extracts begins with dried plants. Oils can also be blended, purified and diluted to create many formulations.
The ingredients in cannabis drinks, foods, and lotions are a combination of extracts and other ingredients. Should cannabis-infused drinks taste like cannabis or something else? They should be spicy, sweet, salty, or sour.
Create experiences
Cannabis is a drug, and the quality of its effects is also important. Cannabis producers clearly design tangible goods. They might adapt concepts related to “experiential services” like entertainment. What kind of experience should they provide to the consumer?
Recreational users are looking for pleasant effects that range from mild relaxation to strong highs. They also pay attention to the aroma of cannabis when smoking it.
Medical users, on the other hand, need specific treatment. Most of these consumers prefer cannabis oil. These oils allow for more precise dosages, and they avoid the harmful effects of smoking.
As producers gain more experience, they may experiment with the formulations of cannabis products. What are the best combinations of THC, CBD, and other cannabinoids for recreational highs? Which cannabinoids provide the best medical relief?
There are already some experiments underway for beverages. The buzz from traditional cannabis drinks is much slower to arrive and fade than alcohol. In response, companies are developing drinks with faster onset times. These beverages will be better suited to “social drinking”.
Extra challenges
Scientific research is a challenge for product designers. Cannabis contains THC and CBD, as well as many other chemicals that are still not fully understood. At first, you will need to do a lot of trial and error.
The regulatory challenges are also significant. Producers are designing edibles such as sugars and cannabis chocolates but can’t test these with consumers until October. It is not yet possible to use product feedback methods like tasting panels.
Designers must also consider the inherent contradictions of public policy. Legal cannabis products need to be attractive enough to attract existing users from illegal suppliers. They shouldn’t be so appealing as to attract new users or cause pets or children to accidentally ingest them.
