Who would have bet on cannabis tech being a thing only a few years back? Previously valued at $20.5 Billion, the global cannabis market is predicted to reach $90.4 Billion by 2026. This number includes the medicinal and recreational applications of the cannabis plant. The recent forecast by Markets and Markets also predicts the European region to attain the highest CAGR growth by 2026. According to the NHS, the cannabinoids, THC, CGB, and CBD, in cannabis help relieve muscle spasms in multiple sclerosis (MS) and sickness in chemotherapy. Its effects on conditions like anorexia, AIDS, epilepsy, and others are still under clinical trials.
The world stays divided on the legalization of cannabis. Canada, and parts of the US, including parts of Mexico, South Africa, and Uruguay, are the only nations where the use of cannabis for medicine and recreation is legal. Some European regions, such as Finland, and the Czech Republic, use cannabis purely for medicinal purposes. The others, like the Netherlands and Belgium, allow a tolerable amount for possession, so they have a legal marijuana industry. The North American cannabis market is predicted to have the largest global share in the future. As the market for cannabis stocks grows, it can be good to read about it before you invest.
Cannabis, ganja, marijuana, pot, or weed, has been a part of our history for centuries across Asia and the globe and was shared through trading routes. In the current century, tech is becoming an important part of growing cannabis, its cultivation, and its use.
Tech solutions for cannabis plantation
Most places where cannabis consumption and cultivation are legal are some of the hardest places to grow. Weed grows best in warm and humid climates. Various tech industries have developed unique cannabis greenhouses that employ technology to emulate the plant’s natural environment.
Ontario-based GGS Structures Inc. provides fully automated structures for marijuana greenhouses and indoor cannabis growth facilities. This is part of the company’s cannabis project. The automated facilities will control the light, temperature, humidity, CO2 dosing, and other plant requirements. The buyers can control the process remotely without doing any arduous plantation activities. The company also builds farms based on the user’s choice.
AGT Technologies creates patent-pending protective greenhouses for medicinal marijuana. The design of the greenhouses is based on pharmaceutical production plants where the environment needs to be sterile. Their ‘natural earth air cavity’ technology prevents plants from getting diseases, and the galvanized glass ceiling accentuates the lights coming from the sun. The company’s focus is especially on places that are dry or have less humidity than required for the production of healthy weed.
Cannabis tech devices
According to the NHS, the psychoactive or “high” effects range from feeling chilled-out, happy and hungry, to feeling drowsy, confused, or paranoid. It is also possible to get addicted to cannabis if the amounts are not controlled. If the pot is consumed in the form of smoking, especially if mixed with tobacco, it can cause harmful effects on the lungs. But the cannabis tech market is bringing many alternatives to smoking.
The Ardent FX and the Nova of the Boston-based cannabis tech company Ardent are decarboxilators that have sensors and a decarboxylation algorithm to activate the pot. Decarboxylation is a process that activates the THC, CBG, and CBD compounds in cannabis. The Ardent Fx is an easy-bake portable device that activates the pot for infusions, such as in butter and baking. It has two settings for decarboxylation – A1 and A2. The A1 setting activates the THC and CBG compounds, and the A2 setting will only activate the CBD compound. The Ardent Fx is available for $350.00 with free shipping.
An Israeli tech company Syqe Medical is one of the major players in the medical cannabis tech industry. The Syqe Inhaler Air is built with technologies that enable treatment at a clinical level. Syqe Medical has “full and well-established trust in our inhaler, both in reducing pain and in improving the quality of life and daily functioning. Therefore, we decided to offer patients the license holders to purchase medical cannabis use inhaler Air by Syqe trial,”
Cannabis DNA sequencing
A Toronto-based startup called Lobo Genetics treats the application of weed uniquely. Their THC tests and CBD tests are available as DNA-testing kits at C$70 and C$60, respectively. The results will be delivered to your smartphone, which will provide you the insights into your body’s response to the psychoactive compounds of weed. It measures factors like mental health, effects on memory, and metabolic sensitivity to the cannabinoids based on your DNA.
If you care more for weed tech, from a consumer point of view, given that it’s legal for you in your region, you can also check out the video below from Gizmodo with Catie Keck and Matthew Reyes.
YouTube: Blaze It Weed Tech Buyer’s Guide
Photo credit: The feature image has been done by Richard Tang.
Source: Report by MarketsandMarkets Research / Shailesh Menon (Economic Times) / Kristina Etter (Cannabis Tech) / NHS fact sheet
