Why isnāt cannabis sitting right next to spinach, kale, and romaine in the produce aisle?
Iām not talking about nugs in jars. I mean the whole plant partsāleaves, roots, stemsāthe āwasteā we all toss out in piles after a defoliation or a chop. You know damn well those fan leaves are packed with chlorophyll, antioxidants, and minerals far beyond what iceberg lettuce gives you. The roots alone have history in traditional medicine going back centuries.
Hemp Is Already There
Hemp is legal in all 50 states. You can walk into any store and find hemp hearts, hemp bars, hemp milk. That normalized the seed side of things. But the leaf? Zero representation. And thatās wild to me.
Imagine the Setup
ā¢ Bags of organic cannabis leaves sold like salad greens.
ā¢ Fresh bundles, maybe even freeze-dried packs for smoothies.
ā¢ A little kiosk or TV in the aisle educating people: āCannabis leaves contain XYZ vitaminsā¦ hereās how to use the roots for teas, poultices, etc.ā
ā¢ Priced the same as kale chips, but ten times the nutrient profile.
Breaking the Stigma
Weāve let cannabis be boxed in as only ādrugā or āsmoke.ā But if every grocery store carried it as a vegetable and herb, it would instantly reframe the plant. Kids grow up seeing their parents buy spinach, parsley, and cannabis in the same trip. Thatās the real cultural shift.
The Question
Why hasnāt any company gone all in on this yet? We defoliate tons of leaf in every garden across the country. Instead of tossing it, why not destigmatize it by feeding it to the world?
I believe you are correct that there is a significant market potential as well.
Iāve wondered about juicing fans leaves in the past but I thought the cystoliths were a gut irritant and dropped the idea.
I definitely like the ideas youāre exploring here
The first argument that comes to my mind is the near constant feedback I get from friends/family (not into cannabis) is they are off-put by the smell. So while one could bring about change in the produce department at your local grocier, I think it faces not only the battle over negative ideas surrounding cannabis, but also the negative association people have with a fruit like durian - the smell. That fruit also has lots of rules and regulations around it for that reason, when made available to the public.
That might be something that someone would be deterred by when attempting to start a business around the ideas youāre bringing up. You want a product like toothpaste, something everyone needs/uses. Unfortunately, the world isnāt California and I could also see religious people having a huge problem with it and the feeling that they are having it shoved down their throat (yep - I see the irony too of religious people being up in arms about ideas they disagree with being presented to them in public). You ever been to Alabama? You might get dragged behind a pickup truck on the bad end of a rope for such ideas. BUT, the world is always in a state of change, so I appreciate you thinking about things that arenāt generally accepted yet.
Cannabinoids are present in all the parts of a mature plant i believe, so idk if you would want to give it to developing brains.
I think the seeds have extremely low Cannabinoids to where they arent even able to detect them in daily use.
However, i saw a study from Korea where the people tested positive >45nanograms after daily use of several grams of hemp seeds a day after 7 weeks i think it was? but its an expensive product so i dont think its a viable product unless you are wealthy to take that much everyday.
I have seen lots of studies where they feed it to livestock and its very beneficial, but the US top agricultural products are corn/soy for livestock so that would be a huge undertaking to shake it up.
Idk, but the FDA controls all here, and they hate cannabis
It would be the greatest thing in the world if cannabis could be reclassified as a food source.
Iām pretty sure it started that way with primitive man, that ate the nutritious seed.
It could also be like wine . Produce all you want for personal. Gift it to anyone.
You want to vend it you need a license.
Cannabis competes with big pharma .The lobbyists would never let that happen.
Was thinking about this moreā¦ cause Iām all for the idea.
One alternative path might be a dried āgreensā powder. Problem is that even this would require testing for active compounds, above and beyond the required testing for contaminants that most other produce regulations requireā¦ making it a more expensive product to produce, and meet regulations.
Itās not that the cannabis plant isnāt great. Itās not that it isnāt even a healthier alternative to lettuce. Itās that the cannabis plant has been put in legal bind, and regulations prison, for the last hundred years or so. You gotta get a bunch of politicians to say itās okay on a piece of paperā¦ when they are too busy taking money from the lettuce lobbyists and selling you out to fund their next election.
BTWā¦ hate to be a buzz kill. Truly. I remember having all these ideas when I was younger. Only real difference twenty years later is I know the stupid reasons things are the way they are nowā¦ and itās cause of a bunch of stupid things humans did in the past and continue to do to this day.
Convincing humans to change their ways is not simple, but when accomplished, can change the world. In youth, it is rarely appreciated how difficult it is to do this though. More so now that everyone grew up with a computer in their home and a screen in their palm, where they can just make something happen by clicking a button.
Were a nation makes its money tells you a lot about its priorities.
In America the big money makers are big pharma ,prison for profit and war.
Marijuana is an alternative to big pharma .
Fortune would be lost.
The government makes a killing housing Marijuana offenders . Marijuana smokers are less likely to support war.
Unless Marijuana becomes much more profitable , things wont change anytime soon.
i guess one must develop a taste for the leaf. me, iāll do lettuce, cabbage, kale even (tho not in years), parsley, lotsa green stuffā¦broccoli. But cannabis tastes best smoked for me, not in food. butter, i donāt care, i donāt like it in food. Iāve had a couple gummies that were okay, but sans going for the effect, iād have the non-extract gummy.
My Elders will use all of the plantā from the Root to the Fruitā¦ I will harvest most of the Flower ā¦The rest is made into Tonics , Rubs & Teasā¦HERB IS THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS
