The University of British Columbia’s Okanagan campus (UBCO) is researching cannabis-infused beverages in collaboration with the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) and cannabis lifestyle brand Pacific Rim.
Susan Murch, the UBCO chemistry professor leading the study, said the new research aims to develop cannabis-infused beverages that can either be licensed to other companies or that Pacific Rim Brands can use to develop its own products.
Murch said there’s a lot about cannabis that has not been explored yet, such as its different kinds of strains.
“What’s interesting about cannabis is that there hasn’t been a traditional type of breeding program like you would have for other crops,” she said. “If one company is selling a variety by a different name, is it really different from one that another company is selling?”
“When you’re looking at producing beverages, the big question is what kind of product would we put into the marketplace in Canada,” she added.
“When you go and buy a product, are you expecting that it’ll be the same or would you expect it to be different every time, and how long do you think the shelf life should be?”
Murch said the project wasn’t easy to get started, adding her research only focused on other kinds of plants prior to the Oct. 17 federal legalization of cannabis.
“I didn’t think I would work on cannabis before because it wasn’t legal, and the process of getting a licensed lab to work on cannabis was really complex.” she said.
A licensing guide from Health Canada showed that in order for a study on cannabis to be approved, it must go through extensive rounds of approvals before it can be allowed to continue—including security clearances, physical checkups, and continued monitoring from the government.
The Charlatan reached out to Pacific Rim Brands for comment, but did not receive a response in time for publication.
In a press release by UBCO, Kevin Letun, the founder and chief strategy officer of Pacific Rim Brands, said cannabis research such as what’s being done with drinks at UBCO would ensure the quality of products fit federal standards.
“This is a very exciting time for research institutions and cannabis companies in the private sector,” he said.
Paula Brown, the professor spearheading the study from BCIT, said it is important that products for cannabis are consistent and can be scaled properly.
“There is a lot of work to be done to develop stable, high-quality, consistent cannabis formulations that consumers can use with confidence,” she said.
Jassim Naqvi, a fourth-year biochemistry student at UBCO, said these kinds of studies allow people to become more aware about the drug in university populations.
“Yes, I do think that watching your professors researching this and seeing it in the news definitely takes the stigma away a bit,” he said, “but to remove stigma away from a general population, I think people themselves also need to understand it from a clinical and scientific perspective.”
Naqvi added that the beverages developed in the study need to ensure they have appropriate levels of cannabidiol (CBD) and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).
CBD is a component of cannabis that has therapeutic effects, but does not produce a narcotic effect. THC is the psychoactive compound that gives users a high.
“You don’t only need competition in the market if you’re going to make right products, but they also need to ensure they are ready for consumption off the shelves,” Naqvi said.
Currently, UBCO and its main campus in Vancouver are one of only few campuses across Canada that have allowed students to consume cannabis recreationally on its property.
Lama Dawoud, a fourth-year political science student at Carleton University, said she thinks British Columbia is far more lenient towards the use of cannabis.
“I definitely don’t think Carleton is ready for stuff like this,” she said. “I, personally, really don’t like the smell of it and I wouldn’t really want to have it near me either . . . I also think it’d allow other people to abuse the drug here.”
At Carleton, students over the age of 19 are allowed to carry up to 30 grams of dried cannabis, but are not allowed to consume, grow, or have it delivered in any form on campus.
“I like the way we regulate marijuana more here,” Dawoud said.
Currently, it is legal to make cannabis food and drinks at home as long as organic solvents are not used to create concentrated products.
Cannabis-infused beverages will not hit the markets until Oct. 17, 2019, as per federal legislation.
Graphic by Temur Durrani
