A study of almost 90,000 samples has found that marijuana strain labels often mislead consumers.
The commonly used marijuana strain labeling system can be highly misleading for consumers said the new study published in the journal PLOS.
The study analyzed the chemical composition of almost 90,000 cannabis samples across six states to come to the conclusion.
Researchers said that their findings undermine the most common way that marijuana “strains” are categorized: indicas associated with body highs, sativas with energizing effects and hybrids that can lean one way or another.
That nomenclature does not match up to the chemical reality of cannabis varieties, the study suggests.
The study also identified three main classes of terpene combinations that are prominent in certain strains: Those high in caryophyllene and limonene, those with rich concentrations of myrcene and pinene and those with robust terpinolene and myrcene content. But those categories “do not neatly correspond to the indica, sativa and hybrid labeling scheme,” the study authors determined.
“In other words, it is likely that a sample with the label indica will have an indistinguishable terpene composition as samples labelled sativa or hybrid,” the researchers wrote.
According to Brian Keegan, a co-author and assistant professor of Information Science at Colorado University Boulder, the study findings raise problems for the burgeoning marijuana markets evolving in states across the country.
It shows that “the prevailing labeling system is not an effective or safe way to provide information about these products,” Keegan said. “This is a real challenge for an industry that is trying to professionalize itself.”
Keegan added that the current situation is “like if your cereal box only showed calories and fat and nothing else. We as consumers need to be pushing for more information. If we do that, the industry will respond.”
