At Stiiizy, the best-selling cannabis brand in America, the goal is explicit: producing powerful and cheap marijuana.
Inside its Los Angeles headquarters, crews dust joints with concentrated THC, the intoxicating component of cannabis. They package pocket-size vape cartridges that promise “the highest potency possible.” On its website, the company declares that “it has never been easier (or quicker) to get silly high for an affordable price.”
Dispensaries operating under the brand of another leading company, Cookies, have promoted “powerful medical benefits,” including “cancer fighting” qualities. A cannabis-infused chocolate bar was, until recently, described as containing properties “beneficial to those suffering” from glaucoma, bacterial infections and Huntington’s disease, a devastating genetic illness.
More than a decade after states began legalizing recreational marijuana, businesses are enticing customers with unproven health claims, while largely escaping rigorous oversight. A New York Times review of 20 of the largest brands found that most were selling products with such claims, potentially violating federal and state regulations. And as companies compete, potency has gone up — with some products advertised as having as much as 99 percent THC — and prices have gone down.
“What we’re seeing is really a race to the bottom,” said Matt Zehner, a senior analyst at Brightfield Group, which tracks the legal cannabis industry.
Some executives said their companies are trying to navigate complex rules while satisfying their customers. Stiiizy’s co-founder and chief executive, James Kim, said in an interview that many are heavy users in search of a good deal, something he had sought as a broke “pothead” in his early 20s. “This is why I believe we’re very successful,” he said.
But in a $32 billion industry that has been volatile — only about a quarter of businesses turned a profit last year, one survey found — companies say they also face pressure to do whatever they can to survive.
Because marijuana remains illegal at the federal level, businesses have difficulty getting bank loans, are barred from routine tax breaks and can’t transport products across state lines. Prices have dropped amid an oversupply and a persistent rivalry with the illegal cannabis trade. And the industry faces a growing threat from intoxicating hemp-derived compounds such as Delta-8, which can be sold more widely and with fewer restrictions.
As companies transform cannabis, and how it is used and perceived, public health experts are increasingly alarmed.
“When companies make unproven health claims about their products, it can put consumers at risk,” said Rosalie Liccardo Pacula, a professor at the University of Southern California who researches cannabis health policy. “And consumers who are exposed to more potent cannabis are more likely to experience serious health effects.”
Yasmin Hurd, a neuroscientist and researcher who directs the Addiction Institute at Mt. Sinai Behavioral Health System in New York, echoed the concerns about health claims and rising potency. “The industry is being reckless,” she said.
Nearly 18 million Americans now report using marijuana daily or near daily — more than the number drinking alcohol that often — according to a national survey on drug use. A growing number are enduring addiction, psychosis and other harms, a Times investigation last year found.
States have taken some steps to protect consumers, such as requiring testing for contaminants, prohibiting advertising that might appeal to minors and capping THC levels in edibles. But there are many gaps, and some of the existing rules are vague or unevenly enforced, The Times found.
In statehouses across the country, cannabis lobbyists have successfully resisted additional restrictions, telling lawmakers that further constraints would send consumers to the illegal market and cost states tax revenue. As public health advocates seek greater protections, they are up against an industry that downplays or rejects evidence of harm.
“They deny the science,” said State Senator Jesse Salomon of Washington, who for years has seen regulatory bills fail after industry pushback. “They undermine the science. If they can’t deny it, they go around the science.”
The Green Rush
When states began legalizing marijuana for recreational use in 2012, they set off a “green rush” of venture capitalists, entrepreneurs and other investors pouring money into cannabis brands, dispensaries, cultivators and technologies. Large companies operating in multiple states acquired smaller ones and began to dominate the market.
Where activists and doctors had once argued for marijuana’s potential as medicine, many newcomers were drawn to its potential for profits. And as the face of the industry changed, so did the products.
More growers embraced breeding techniques to increase the potency of the marijuana smoked in joints, blunts and bongs, pushing the THC levels to as much as 30 percent. (The typical level a generation ago was less than 5 percent.) Cannabis vapes, infused pre-rolled joints and high-intensity THC beverages now line dispensary shelves. And many businesses sell concentrates, some promoting nearly 100 percent THC, in the form of waxes, liquids and crystalline “diamonds” — products that have gone from niche to mainstream.
Two high-level Stiiizy employees, showing a reporter around their Los Angeles headquarters, said that some of the brand’s popular offerings were too strong for them.
Matthew Kim, the chief innovation officer at Jetty Extracts, recalled being “scared” when high-potency products first hit the market and he saw the effects on his friends. “You can take one puff of it and it’ll knock you out,” he said in an interview. He said he believed that some of the public health concerns about concentrates were valid. But, he went on: “The genie’s out of the bottle. And it’s up to us to figure out a way to not cause too much harm.”
Jetty’s marketing director, Kate Ransom, defended potent products and said people should be able to make their own choices. “The dispensaries are catering to high-dose consumers, because that’s who is spending the most money, and so that’s actually the free market at work.”
More than half of monthly sales at retailers come from just 20 percent of customers, who favor higher-potency products, according to an analysis by Mitchell Laferla, a senior data analyst at Headset.
While marijuana flower is still the most popular form overall, the use of edibles, vapes and concentrates is on the rise, surveys show. Vapes make up a quarter of cannabis sales nationwide, according to Headset. And last year, for the first time, sales of vapes edged out sales of flower among Generation Z — people born between 1997 and 2012.
As they embrace these products, many users interviewed and surveyed by The Times said they had been unaware of the risks. Trapper Schoepp, a 34-year-old singer-songwriter, started buying high-potency marijuana from dispensaries to replace the prescription opioids he had abused for chronic back pain after spinal surgery. “It seemed to be a sort of catchall, one-puff wellness plant,” he said.
Instead, Mr. Schoepp recalled, he became dependent, vaping constantly even as he experienced increasing anxiety and began having paranoid delusions. His lowest point, he said, came last year when he was thrown out of an airport during an erratic episode. Soon after, he entered rehab and was diagnosed with severe cannabis use disorder. Now nine months sober, he said he still battles intense cravings.
“All the marketing surrounding cannabis was that it was a pain reliever,” he said. “So I bought into that.”
From P.T.S.D. to Parkinson’s
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration prohibits companies from claiming that products can treat disease without going through the agency’s regulatory approval process for drugs.
The Times examined product listings on Weedmaps — a major cannabis e-commerce website — posted for 20 of the country’s top-selling cannabis brands. Of those, 16 had products that potentially violated F.D.A. rules, because the descriptions included health claims.
They invoked dozens of conditions, including depression, anxiety, insomnia, inflammation, post-traumatic stress disorder, swelling, migraines, cramping, hypertension, arthritis, muscle spasms, mood swings, asthma, anorexia, P.M.S. and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Descriptions on Weedmaps for the brand Cookies implied that some products could help treat bipolar disorder and other health problems. Listings for products from another company, Illicit, said they could help with symptoms of multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease.
While the F.D.A. has issued warnings to companies that sell hemp-derived products, citing reports of harm, it has not intervened over health claims about marijuana. An agency spokesperson told The Times last month that hemp was a higher priority because it is not regulated in many states and is more widely available. She said states that have legalized marijuana are responsible for creating and enforcing their own regulations. (Most have legalized medical use, and 24 states and the District of Columbia allow recreational use.)
Many of the health claims reviewed by The Times appeared to violate some state rules. But many state cannabis regulators don’t have the resources for enforcement beyond labels and packaging, said Gillian Schauer, executive director of the Cannabis Regulators Association.
Shaleen Title, a former top marijuana regulator for Massachusetts, said state officials are overwhelmed: “You’re supposed to be the Food and Drug Administration, you’re supposed to be the Federal Trade Commission, you’re supposed to be the Labor Board, you’re supposed to be every agency in one.”
After being contacted by The Times, many of the health claims for at least nine of the 16 companies, including Cookies and Illicit, were removed. Some responded that the language had been inadvertent or outdated.
A Cookies spokeswoman said the company was not responsible for writing the claims published on Weedmaps or Cookies-branded store websites and had asked them to address the issue. Cookies also updated a disclaimer to say that products’ efficacy had not been confirmed by F.D.A.-approved research. An Illicit spokesman said the brand is committed to complying with regulations. Weedmaps did not respond to requests for comment.
Although research on marijuana has been severely limited, in large part because it is illegal federally, some studies show it can have medical benefits. The Biden administration proposed reclassifying the drug, in part for this reason.
Clinicians and patients have said in surveys that they believe cannabis products help relieve some health issues. Most states allow people to purchase marijuana with a doctor’s sign-off. But none of the cannabis available in medical or recreational dispensaries is F.D.A.-approved. Just four cannabis-related prescription drugs have been cleared, one for epilepsy and three for chemotherapy-induced nausea.
Wana Brands, a leading cannabis company, said it believed it was complying with federal guidance as long as it did not make claims about treating or curing specific conditions. For example, one executive said, the company shouldn’t say a product cures insomnia, but can say it will improve sleep.
Some companies, knowing they are unlikely to get in legal trouble for making health claims, may take the risk anyway, said Shawn Hauser, a partner at Vicente L.L.P. in Colorado who helps lead the law firm’s hemp and cannabinoids department. She said that because state regulations differ so widely, there is “insurmountable confusion,” and that effective regulation won’t be possible unless cannabis is legalized at the federal level.
Dr. Steven M. Teutsch, senior fellow at a health policy center at the University of Southern California, said that companies were taking advantage of gaps in regulations. “They clearly push the boundaries of what’s possible for them to do, and it’s a real problem,” he said.
In 2022, Patrick Kenneally, then a county prosecutor in Illinois, took matters into his own hands. He decided to act because, he said, cannabis dispensaries in McHenry County were “co-opting the language of medicine” to sell recreational products.
He threatened to sue a Rise dispensary, owned by the billion-dollar company Green Thumb Industries, accusing it of violating the state’s consumer fraud act by making dozens of claims about products’ abilities to help a range of ailments. In a 2023 settlement, Rise denied wrongdoing but agreed to remove health claims, post signs about the risks of cannabis and pay $75,000 for a public health campaign.
About 100 other Rise dispensaries operate across the United States, and some have continued to make health claims online. As of Friday, Rise’s website said that cannabis “can relieve pain, stress and depression without the side effects of (often pricier) prescription drugs.”
Green Thumb Industries declined to comment.
Some companies capitalize on health concerns about other intoxicating substances to position cannabis as a healthier alternative.
Stephanie Daley, a vice president at Wana, one of many marijuana brands that have expanded into hemp products, said consumers report that drinking Wana’s hemp-derived THC beverages, which are available online and sold at mainstream liquor and convenience stores in many states, “helps them chill out” and that “it’s just not as bad for you as alcohol.”
But other consumers have sued cannabis companies, saying they were misled by unproven wellness claims or not informed about potential risks. In lawsuits against Stiiizy, five Californians say they developed cannabis-induced psychosis after repeated use of Stiiizy vapes as minors. One plaintiff, who is now 19 and anonymous in the lawsuit to protect his privacy, told The Times he had suffered from anxiety and stress in high school and was drawn to Stiiizy’s claims that cannabis could offer relief.
“I would look up the different types of vape cartridges that they had on the website,” he said. “I would do as much research as I could.”
In August 2022, according to his lawsuit, police officers took him to a hospital after he became delusional at home and held a knife to his neck. Tests showed high levels of THC in his body, and he was involuntarily committed. While in the psychiatric ward, the lawsuit states, he became paranoid, jumped out a window and ran to his former high school, where he told the principal that aliens were trying to kill him. Doctors said he appeared to have cannabis-induced psychosis, according to the lawsuit.
In a statement, Stiiizy’s co-founder said the company does not market or sell products to minors.
As of Friday, the company was still making health claims on its website, including in guides describing different cannabis breeds. Each of the more than 80 guides reviewed by The Times highlighted at least one health condition that the breed “helps with,” including depression, P.T.S.D., gastrointestinal disorder, A.D.H.D., migraines, Crohn’s disease and asthma.
The Stiiizy statement said that “attempting to apply F.D.A. guidelines to descriptions of cannabis product effects only serves to highlight America’s deeply flawed system for regulating cannabis and protecting consumers.” That system, the statement said, “leaves consumers confused and operators struggling to remain compliant.”
Private Industry vs. Public Health
As the industry argues for marijuana to be legalized — and regulated — at the federal level, it has also fought many attempts at regulation by states.
In 2023, groups representing pediatricians, emergency medicine doctors and addiction specialists complained to California lawmakers that the state had broken its promise to prevent cannabis products from being designed to appeal to children or be easily confused with candy.
The organizations pressed for legislation that would tighten restrictions on packaging and marketing and prohibit flavorings in vapes and other smoked cannabis products. The industry opposed the bill, arguing that the measures were unreasonable and unnecessary.
While the bill was under review, Stiiizy donated tens of thousands of dollars to members of the Senate committee considering it, records show.
The committee voted to remove the flavor ban from the bill. Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed the version that passed, saying it was overly broad and wouldn’t meaningfully protect children. Stiiizy’s president, Tak Sato, told the cannabis industry publication WeedWeek that the veto was a result of the “combined effort of more than 20 legal cannabis brands and founders.”
It was one of many industry victories across the country.
“The industry has been very effective at transmitting this idea of cannabis as a safe, natural wellness product,” said Dr. Lynn Silver, a pediatrician and senior adviser at the Public Health Institute, who has reported to the state on the effects of high-potency products. “There’s little awareness of just how much the product has actually changed, of how industrialized and increasingly hazardous it’s become.”
Last January, Ryan Orrison, then the director of a youth sobriety support group in Washington State, joined state health officials, pediatricians and university researchers in supporting a fifth attempt in five years to tighten restrictions on high-potency cannabis.
Faced with industry opposition, each proposed bill had been less ambitious than the last. This one would have barred consumers under 25 from buying cannabis concentrates with more than 35 percent THC. It also would have directed more than $3 million to a University of Washington research institute, in part to advise health care providers on how to respond to patients experiencing harmful effects from cannabis.
At a hearing about the bill, Mr. Orrison noted that those opposing it profited from cannabis.
“My hope is that the committee is able to take the information and the testimony provided by experts in the field, people that care about the kids, and measure that against folks that are trying to make money,” he said.
The industry pushed back, arguing that consumers should have legal access to high-potency cannabis so they can be assured of its quality, rather than turning to the illicit market or hemp products online.
The bill’s sponsor, Representative Lauren Davis, said the committee leaders had told her the bill would die if it included any mention of the research institute, which the industry accused of being biased after it warned of the dangers of high-THC products. The version that passed included some new initiatives, such as requiring dispensaries to post signs about potential health risks, but no potency caps, age restrictions or dedicated funding for the institute.
An email obtained by The Times shows that one committee leader, Representative Sharon Wylie, a supporter of the industry, shared a draft of the bill with a cannabis lobbyist. “Thank you for being open to the compromise approach,” she wrote.
In an interview, Ms. Wylie said that “the jury’s still out” on the potential harms of cannabis, and that regulated business brings revenue to the state.
Ms. Davis is not giving up. She plans to introduce legislation to another committee this month that would prohibit all concentrates exceeding 35 percent THC, with exemptions for medical use.
“The industry needs limits,” she said.
The post The Race for All-Powerful Pot appeared first on New York Times.
