Why nanotechnology just might be the future of weed.
August 26, 2019 4 min read
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
When you think about cannabis and the businesses that market it, you have to think beyond the traditional image of the rolled-up joint. That consumption method is bad for the lungs, outdated, and inefficient. The future of cannabis consumption is about to go through a huge change thanks to a tiny innovation: nanotechnology.
This new science is helping to create an alternative way for people to take cannabis and get more CBD and THC oil out of a product: It is also inconspicuous, effective, efficient, and clean. Businesses only succeed when they solve a problem and, through nanotechnology, cannabis businesses can provide the benefits of cannabis use in a healthy way that doctors and patients can feel comfortable with. In the simplest terms, nanotechnology allows cannabis consumers to obtain the desired medical benefits from the plant without smoking and sacrificing their health in exchange.
Related: Cannabis Chew? Yep, It’s a Thing And It Just Might Be Revolutionary
What is nanotechnology?
To put it in simple terms, nanotechnology is used to turn substances like CBD oil and THC oil, into nano-size. Like all oils, they cannot be dissolved in water, so reducing them to a microscopic size expands the ways that the product can be delivered to the person consuming it.
As a point of reference, one nanometer is one-thousandth of a micron, which is one-thousandth of a millimeter. When cannabinoids are this small, they can travel extremely quickly through the skin and other membranes of the human body and enter the bloodstream much faster. The most innovative companies use nanoencapsulation to make CBD and THC oil nano-sized and increase the amount that gets through the skin surface, into the bloodstream.
Related: How Israel Became the Global Leader in Cannabis Research
What is nanoencapsulation?
Essentially, it is a technology that forces the oil into a hard shell, made of a material that likes and can be dissolved in water. When this nano-sized amount of oil within the shell comes into contact with the outside of your body, which is 80 percent water, your body, skin, and membranes take it to be water-soluble and absorb it easily. The enclosed oil gets deeper and deeper into the body and then comes out of the shell via changes in temperature, where it then becomes active.
By that time, the oil is already too deep for the body to reject it. The hard shell also protects the oil inside from the natural digestion effects of the stomach. The shell protects the oil enough for it to actually get into the wall of the stomach and get back into the circulation of the blood. Nanoencapsulation can carry more CBD and THC oil out of a solution and into the human body than any other technology known to date. This has major implications for the cannabis industry, opening up vast opportunities to companies to provide delivery solutions that are palatable to the consumer.
Related: Why Cannabis Oil Is Big Business (and How to Capitalize on It)
What are the opportunities?
Nanoencapsulation is the unique selling proposition that opens up opportunities for cannabis businesses. The science behind it has implications beyond the cannabis industry, as other medicines or treatments can be delivered this way, creating new options in biotechnology that help people with all manner of medical concerns. For example, certain types of cancer are managed by sending engineered nanoparticles that will attack sick cells, and leave the healthy ones alone, for greater accuracy.
There are also many other businesses that can benefit from nanotechnology and use it to expand their own product lines. For example, beauty products can use nanotechnology to add CBD to their products, gum manufacturers can use it to create a line of CBD gum, nanotechnology can be used to create CBD-infused eye drops. Nanotechnology can catapult non-cannabis companies into the ever-evolving hemp/CBD industry.
At its most effective, nanotechnology can ensure inconspicuous, effective, efficient, and clean marijuana use. When products are made with nanotechnology, you don’t need to consume a lot to get the desired effect. They are also discreet, as you just need to put a patch on your skin or an oral, dissolvable strip in your mouth that is just like a mint. Many companies are already using nanotechnology in their new innovations, such as Honest Marijuana Company’s infused honey and THC capsules, and the market’s new offerings will only keep getting more ingenious.
This article is from Entrepreneur.com
