DEVELOPING A RETAIL CANNABIS SHOP FOR RESEARCH
USC Institute for Addiction Science Pilot Grant Program (PIs Pedersen, Prince, and Monterosso)
Almost half of the states in the U.S. have legalized recreational cannabis for sale and possession. Los Angeles alone has over 230 licensed retail cannabis dispensaries, with most stores offering cannabis products. Cannabis dispensaries expose consumers to a wide variety of products in packages that contain unique labels describing the required risk statements, recommended serving sizes, and ingredients associated with their contents. Although prior research has addressed product labeling on cannabis products and examined the purchasing behavior of cannabis consumers, no known studies have been conducted within an actual retail cannabis dispensary, with experimentally manipulated product messaging and a variety of cannabis user types (i.e., infrequent, occasional, and heavy users).
We are currently developing a cannabis dispensary for research (named “The CANNEX”) using the Institute for Addiction Science Biobehavioral Research Facility. We will stock the shelves with a variety of fabricated cannabis retail products (e.g., flower, vapes, concentrates, edibles, topicals) with different concentrations of cannabinoids (e.g., THC, cannabidiol [CBD], cannabinol [CBN]) and varying levels of potency (e.g., milligrams of THC in a single edible). With the help of partners in the cannabis industry, these products will have diverse packaging to ensure that the space simulates a real-world cannabis dispensary. Once developed, The CANNEX can be used in subsequent research studies by this research team and other researchers in the Institute for Addiction Science.