- Research company Confident
Cannabis created a tool to compare strains across US medical dispensaries. - Researchers found labels like "indica" and "sativa" don't match strains' chemical makeups.
- Three graphics show how labels can be misleading at dispensaries.
At cannabis dispensaries, products are generally advertised by plant type - indica, sativa, or hybrid - and strain name, like Green Kush or Blue Dream. Indica strains are said to have a relaxing effect and body high, sativa strains lean towards an energized high, and hybrids fall in the middle.
Searching for strains based on "indica" and "sativa" labels or by strain name is an unreliable way to find weed you consistently enjoy because of plant cross-breeding and a lack of patents in the industry, Steve Albarran, founder and CEO of research company Confident Cannabis, told Insider.
Since Confident Cannabis tests the molecular composition of 60% of all legal cannabis in the US, they have a catalog of thousands of strains a weed user may come across. In testing these strains, researchers found labels like "indica" and "sativa" don't match up with any given strain's chemical composition and purported effects, said Albarran.
A strain in one state and the same strain sold in another could also have completely different chemical makeups. Purple Haze in an Oregon dispensary could be indica, but Purple Haze in a California dispensary might be sativa.
Researchers at Confident Cannabis created a 3D visualization tool to show which strains across the US are molecularly similar and could elicit similar effects when consumed.
Two graphics pulled from the tool show how strains can be more similar than their labels suggest.
In this first graphic, each blue dot represents a strain that cultivators and dispensaries have labeled as "sativa," and every red dot represents a strain labeled "indica."
"The closer two dots are to each other, the more chemically similar they are," Albarran said. This means the effect they elicit in a user is similar.
Since blue and red dots are dispersed, it suggests there is "no reliable correlation between indica/sativa labels and flowers' chemical composition," said Albarran.
Cannabis cultivators have long known of this paradox.
"It's a tragic comedy in this space," Jake Pasternack, CEO of adult-use cannabis brand Binske, told Insider. "The retail establishment wants to keep it as simple as possible for consumers because they're often coming fresh into the space without knowledge" of cannabis.
To find similar strains, compare terpenes and cannabinoids
When a user looks at specific strains in the visualization tool, they get a breakdown of the cannabinoids and terpenes in each.
THC is the most common and intoxicating cannabinoid, or cannabis compound. CBD is the most common non-intoxicating
Terpenes are non-psychoactive organic compounds found in cannabis that play a role in the smell and flavor of each strain. There are more than 100 terpenes, like limonene and mercene, which also exist naturally in fruits, beverages, and other foods.
In this graphic, Albarran compared the strain Master Kush from a cultivator in Nevada, which is labeled as "indica," and Super Silver Haze, a strain from a grower in Oregon labeled "sativa."
Based on their existing labels, people may assume the two strains have different chemical makeups, and therefore effects.
After Albarran's team looked at each strain on a chemical level, however, they found the strains were quite similar.
That's why experts like Chen and Pasternak recommend researching strains based on the effects you want to feel, rather than relying on labels.