Researchers in Saskatchewan looking at how edibles can impact driving

by Grow Up Conference | Dec 11, 2024 | Media Partners, Stratcann

Researchers at the University of Saskatchewan’s Driving Research and Simulation Laboratory will begin looking at how cannabis edibles impact people’s ability to drive in 2025.

“There’s a lot of research on smoked cannabis and the impacts on driving, but very little on the effects of edibles,” Alexander Crizzle, the lab’s director and an associate professor of public health, tells the CBC.

Participants in the study will get to eat a 10 mg THC edible and will be provided with snacks and cab fare home. 

The research team will then measure participants’ impairment utilizing their in-house driving simulator, Crizzle tells the CBC in Saskatchewan. 

“We also have a battery of tests where we can look at how people think and we kind of stress them out a little bit to see how well they perform under a certain amount of stress. That kind of gives us a good indication of how much the edibles are impacting their ability to think and drive.”

The Driving Research and Simulation Laboratory (DRSL) at the University of Saskatchewan is directed by Crizzle and contains state-of-the-art driving simulators to study the impact of technology, rehabilitation, road design (e.g., intersections, roundabouts, bicycle lanes), and training. Among other features, the DRSL also has a full array of clinical assessments such as vision, cognition, and motor tests. 

The lab is also a co-investigator in the multi-year “Don’t Drive High” campaign from 2021-2024, with funding from the Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR). This Canada-wide project partnered with young Canadians to better understand the factors that influence their decision to drive high. 

A recent 2023 report from Public Safety Canada found that 23% of cannabis users nationwide admitted to driving within two hours of consumption.

In new figures from 2024, the number of people who reported using cannabis before driving (18%) increased slightly from the year prior (15% in 2023) but is still lower than the 27% who reported doing so in 2018. 

This included 16% who reported driving within 2 hours of smoking or vaporizing cannabis and 10% who reported driving within 4 hours of ingesting cannabis.

Of those who reported using cannabis in the past 12 months, 78% said they believe that cannabis use impairs one’s ability to drive, while 13% responded that it depends, and 6% responded that it did not impair one’s ability to drive.

Image via usask.ca

BC businesses team up to research effects of e-beam irradiation on cannabis

by Grow Up Conference | Dec 10, 2024 | Media Partners, Stratcann

A cannabis education group has teamed up with a cannabis testing lab in BC to look into the impacts of remediation on cannabis. 

Francis Hall and Tom Rothmeier, the team behind Urbanistic, a cannabis education and quality grading company based in BC, recently launched a study looking into how cannabis is affected by the e-beam remediation process, not just immediately after remediation but also several months later. 

While there have been studies done on the effects of irradiation on cannabis, those results were only looking at the immediate impacts, not long term, says Hall. He and his partner Rothmeier wanted to better understand how that process can change cannabis after it’s sat on shelves. 

Hall says the idea is one he has been looking at for a while, and it finally came together once they found the right partners, with both a local producer providing cannabis samples and a local lab to test those samples.

The unnamed producer is providing two 160-gram samples from the same lot/batch, one that will go through a standard e-beam remediation process and one that will not. Those samples will then be shared with analytical cannabis testing lab Northern Scientific, also in BC, which will test them for things like cannabinoid and terpene levels, as well as microbes like mould and mildew.

Those samples will be tested right after the e-beam remediation process, done at a facility in BC, and again after three, six, and, ideally, nine months. This will give a better real-world look at how the e-beam process impacts both product quality and shelf stability for microbials. 

“It just struck me that a big thing we’re missing is we’re not reflecting the average supply chain that a product actually goes through until it reaches the consumer,” he explains. “So that was more the point that I was coming from. Is this research fit for purpose and an accurate representation of how a product typically gets remediated and moves through the supply chain?”

Zack Paul, the CEO and founder of Northern Scientific, Inc., located in Langley, BC, says he was eager to participate in the research when approached by Urbanistic. Not only is he interested to see the long-term effects of remediation on cannabinoids and terpenes, but also the long-term implications of the effect of microbials on shelf-life stability.

This is important not only for cannabis sold in Canada—which might wait weeks or months from harvest to being sent to a distributor, then to a store, before a consumer buys it—but also for cannabis sold on the international market. These products, he says, can often take an even longer and more circuitous route to consumers, making it especially important to ensure the remediation process helps hold back unwanted microbial growth not just immediately after but several months later. 

“We’re very happy to be on board, and it’s fascinating, the information we’re going to see at the end of this,” says Paul. “It’s valuable research that we just don’t have.”

“No one really does testing post-e-beam or irradiation for potency or terpenoids, so to be able to see what degradation, analytically, we can find is going to be fascinating. 

“As well, with microbiology, we know that with irritation or e-beam, it more or less stunts or puts those microbes dormant. It doesn’t kill them completely. So you will start to see regrowth, it’s just a matter of when.”

Urbanistic is hosting a GoFundMe campaign to help raise $15,000 to pay for the research. Although the page refers to research on irradiation, Hall reiterates that the research is specifically on the e-beam process, which differs somewhat from the irradiation process. Both are used by cannabis companies in Canada for the purpose of remediating their crops for shelf stability, although e-beam has become the more commonly used process in recent years.  

Acknowledging this important distinction, Hall says he chose the term “irradiation” because it’s the most commonly understood term among consumers.

In addition to lab testing, Urbanistic will also apply their own in-house grading system to the product, which includes blind sensory examination as well as product sampling to see if there are any noticeable effects of the e-beam process, either visually, from the aroma, or taste or even overall effect and experience. 

I think that will complement the lab testing really well,” says Hall. “I think it’s going to give us an understanding of how the remediation has changed everything from the curing and freshness of the plant to the colours of the plant, the robustness of the trichome heads, the colour of the trichome heads, all the way through to the actual consumption of the product.”

You can learn more about the project here.

What is remediation? 

In the simplest sense, irradiation works by exposing harvested cannabis to radiation—commonly either gamma, electron-beam (e-beam), or x-ray—to render contaminants like mould spores and other microbes inert and harmless to the consumer. 

At the outset of legalization, gamma irradiation was the most common method of decontamination, but since then, some producers have moved to e-beam remediation, a shorter and cheaper process than gamma that produces comparable results. Irradiation is a general term for when radiation interacts with an object, while e-beam irradiation is a specific type of irradiation that uses high-energy electrons to sterilize products.

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BC’s Community Savings provides support for cannabis industry

by Grow Up Conference | Dec 9, 2024 | Media Partners, Stratcann

BC’s Community Savings Credit Union president and CEO Mike Schilling says his phone has been ringing off the hook with queries from cannabis businesses following a recent announcement the lending institution had entered into credit agreements for a $10 million loan to BC cannabis producer Rubicon Organics. 

The agreements, or credit facilities, will help Rubicon repay a US$8 million bond in full, which was set to mature on December 31, 2024. That bond, a secured debenture, was owed to an investment group, Green Island Investments Ltd.

“To be honest, my phone has been ringing off the hook since Rubicon made this announcement because this is a close knit industry and we’ve got lots of cannabis businesses across Canada calling us,”  Schilling tells StratCann.

He says the deal represents an example of the services the credit union can provide cannabis businesses of all kinds, not only in British Columbia but from across Canada through its partnership with groups like We Can Capital. Rather than seeing this as a unique offering for a cannabis business, he says it’s an example of the industry beginning to normalize, as these types of deals are common in many other industries. 

“Cannabis businesses don’t have access to normal banking facilities that other businesses have,” Schilling adds. “And that’s been our mission from day one, to provide some normalcy. We’re not providing anything special, we’re just trying to provide them with banking services that everyone else has access to. And that starts with basic banking services.” 

Regarding the deal, Janis Risbin, CFO at Rubicon, said: “We are pleased to announce the establishment of our new Credit Facilities, which underscores our commitment to strengthening our financial position and supporting our strategic growth initiatives. Our new Credit Facilities enhance our liquidity and provide us with the flexibility to invest in key projects that will drive long-term value for our shareholders. We believe that this strategic move positions us well to navigate the evolving market landscape and capitalize on future opportunities.” 

Community Savings is the largest provider of banking services in BC for cannabis businesses and, as such, treats the industry like any other, adds Schilling. 

“One of the commitments that Community Savings makes is not only are we going to provide these sorts of services, but we’re not going to charge a premium because you’re a cannabis business. We like working with cannabis businesses. We understand them, and they’ll pay the same rate as any other business in other industries.”

One of the issues cannabis businesses are often not aware of, he points out, is that they can leverage their assets, be it land, or a facility, or equipment, to gain more access to working capital. One example of those services is Community Savings, which provides invoice factoring to cannabis producers. This can help these businesses leverage sales into provincial markets, speeding up payment options that sometimes take weeks or months from the provincial distribution boards.