Blocking out the scene, blowing our minds. Grow this, don’t grow that, can’t you read the strain?
From OG, Sour Diesel, Train Wreck, to Purple Panty Dropper and Harle Tsu, we have been bombarded with strain names. The quandary used to be what name brand to grow, but those days are coming to an end. As we are able to dive deeper into understanding this magical herb with its many facets, we are discovering a vast sea of hidden cannabis secrets.
Black market legacy, relied on strain names to provide information on the end product. Today, strain names are unreliable indicators of plant genetics, and can only provide a small amount of data that’s in the end product. Exact strains can be grown in different locations, under different growing procedures, given different nutrients, with the variables all over the place; and these plants will have different test results in the end product.
Although we are grateful to the deep hill breeders of cannabis, this genetic mash-up is slowly fading as the industry is becoming more enforced. As testing laboratories enter the cannabis industry, the genetic science is becoming tighter than a guess based on a strain name.
It’s beneficial for consumers to look for cannabinoid profiles over strain names, current THC and CBD content are mostly being highlighted. Cannabis labeling should include more information such as cannabinoids and terpenes levels; and while we are at it, let’s also regulate clean ethically grown cannabis!
