The FDA is seeking outside data and analytics services to better understand how people use cannabis, CBD, and other emerging products through public social-media conversations, consumer surveys, and market intelligence. The request does not establish access to private messages, but it does point to a much more systematic federal effort to analyze how cannabis consumers behave, what they buy, and what they say online.
There are like a trillion ways people use cannabis today, especially in the US, where medical weed is legal across much of the country and roughly half the states have given the green light to adult-use marijuana. That tricky patchwork of legalization has also created enormous differences in what people buy, where they buy it, and how they use it.
And when we talk about “ways of using cannabis,” we’re not only talking about that new vape you didn’t even know existed, infused drinks, gummies, concentrates, topicals, or whatever new format showed up at the dispensary this month. We’re also talking about why people use weed, how often, what doses they use, what symptoms they’re trying to address, the effects they’re looking for, the circumstances in which they use it, and pretty much everything else that shapes a cannabis experience.
That is exactly the kind of information the Food and Drug Administration now wants more of.
The FDA Wants to Know the Whys, Wheres, and Hows
With tens of millions of Americans using cannabis, it only makes sense to assume that they don’t all use it the same way, in the same places, or for the same reasons. Better information about those differences can be useful for everything from public-health research to product development, consumer education and a better understanding of emerging patterns of use. At least, that seems to …
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Author: Camila Berriex / High Times
