San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Cannabis offers new experiences from relaxation to pain killer alternative
If you can remember trying marijuana in the 1960s, ’70s or ’80s, you’ll likely recall the 1988 advertising slogan, “This is not your father’s Oldsmobile.” Although that phrase is often credited with harming rather than helping the automobile company’s image, it remains a useful mantra for those older adults considering the cannabis of today, whether or not they used it in the past.
In addition to the changed nomenclature for what earlier generations routinely called pot, grass, weed or marijuana, California’s legalization of the recreational use of cannabis in 2017 has brought new varieties of the plant, new methods for consuming it and new ways to purchase it.
Fortunately for both first-time buyers and those the industry has dubbed as “re-entry” consumers, most brick-and-mortar dispensaries have “bud tenders” (sales associates) trained to help customers discover what fits their needs while perhaps teaching them a new vocabulary along the way.
That includes understanding the difference between CBD and THC, or cannabidiol and tetrahydrocannabinol, the chemicals in cannabis that have therapeutic qualities. THC is the one associated with feeling high, among other reactions, while CBD is non-intoxicating and often used for pain relief. Those who prefer to smoke cannabis will be directed to various strains of “flower,” but cannabis with varying levels of THC and CBD can also be ingested via vape pens, gummies and other edibles, tablets, teas and other beverages, soluble powders and topical creams and lotions.
“It’s different strokes for different folks — whatever you are comfortable with,” said B.J.
Carretta, a marketing consultant with Columbia Care, which operates dispensaries in 16 states, including Project Cannabis in San Francisco, and the District of Columbia. “A lot of people walk in and say, ‘Oh, I want to have a great time’ or will be really specific and say, ‘I can’t sleep,’ or say, ‘I have a lot of anxiety, I can’t relax.’ That’s a starting point for the sales associate to say, ‘Do you prefer smoking, do you prefer an edible, what would be the best form for you to consume the plant?’
“We’re finding for the most part that flower still rules the day in general across the industry, but other forms like edibles and tablets are beginning to pick up steam with the older demographic,” Carretta noted. “A lot of people are looking for alternatives to pain medicines, including opioids. If they have access to the right cannabis-based products, they can walk in and grab a THCinfused topical lotion or a 10milligram sublingual tablet, as opposed to going to a pharmacy.”
A good dispensary will have educated their bud tenders “really, really well,” Carretta said, so they can answer any questions a novice or re-entry customer might have about medical or recreational cannabis use.
“The goal is to be much more open and much more of an approachable environment, whether you’re a patient or adult use consumer, to make it a more inviting experience,” he explained. “It’s taking the methodology of a wine sommelier — creating sales associates educated on the products, the strains, the form factors — with the objective for you to talk to them about your needs base, why you’re there, what you’re looking for and to have them help you pick the right products and give you the right experience.
“The sales associates have to be willing to answer all the questions and talk to them about all things because it can be so new, and the last thing is you have to have a good product, or you run the risk of them never coming back, not just to us, but the whole industry.”
Re-entry consumers in their 40s through their 70s should particularly rely on the advice of a sales associate when visiting a dispensary for the first time, Carretta noted.
“A lot of times, they walk into the dispensary and some are, ‘I got it,’ and the reality is that you don’t,” he said. “The flower that you think you’re going to buy is nothing like the flower you got, nine times out of 10, when you were 21. It’s so much better — it’s cared for more, it’s grown under strict supervision, it’s created for a reason and the potency levels are higher.”
If the customer picks the wrong strain, “then that goes back to the whole, ‘Oh, I had a really bad experience, I’m not going to do that anymore,’ ” Carretta added.
But if figures from a study conducted from 2015 to 2018 are any indication, more older Americans are continuing to jump on this trend. Cannabis use by people 65 and older grew 75 percent over the threeyear period, according to a 2020 article in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine, from 2.4 percent of the population to 4.2 percent.
“If you’re curious, try it out,” Carretta advised. “Walk in and check it out and go through the experience. If it’s not the right fit, it’s not the right fit, but at least take the leap to talk to a sales associate or bud tender and you may discover something you didn’t know.”
“The goal is to be much more open and much more of an approachable environment, whether you’re a patient or adult use consumer, to make it a more inviting experience.”
B.J. Carretta, a marketing consultant with Columbia Care, which operates a dispensary in South of Market