The new strains of marijuana we should expect to find in our future dispensary grow rooms aren’t exactly all that different from their pot predecessors.
They have all been genetically modified to be more potent, to be able to withstand longer growing seasons and to be less expensive to produce.
But what if the strains were also much cheaper?
That’s what cannabis scientist and entrepreneur Alex Shafrir wants to test with his company, Cactus Herb.
He’s already licensed the technology to some of the world’s biggest pot producers to develop strains of cannabis that are cheaper to grow, to sell, and to smoke.
And he hopes to soon begin selling them directly to consumers through his website.
“It’s the first step to being able to sell a product that is a fraction of the cost of buying a legal product,” Shafrer said.
“That’s the biggest benefit.”
Shafrar and his team are aiming to launch their first strains this year, with a goal to have 100 of them available for sale by the end of 2020.
It’s not just marijuana growers who can benefit from the new strains.
The marijuana industry has been hit by an unexpected economic downturn, and a lack of supply of medical marijuana has also been a big driver.
That means dispensaries that have been struggling to stay open are struggling to find the funds to continue to provide their services.
In the end, many medical marijuana patients may not be able find their medication at all, and many of them are simply unable to afford it.
The future of medical cannabis may also be at stake, too.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved three marijuana strains, including Shafri’s, but they’re only available through licensed dispensaries.
Shafras hopes that with his new strains, growers can compete with big players in the medical marijuana industry by offering their own strains.
“This is a way to make it a little more affordable for consumers,” Shaffrar said.
Shafrir is also working on a startup called Cannavar, which is developing an automated cannabis grow system that will allow growers to grow marijuana at home and harvest it for dispensaries.
The company’s CEO, Daniel Oleson, said in a press release that his company is “making a huge step forward in the cultivation of marijuana” with the new technology.
But Shafria said that the future of cannabis cultivation and sales lies in the hands of the people.
“If we can make it cheaper, then there is no reason why people wouldn’t want to be part of the process,” Shafarer said, adding that he believes that cannabis growers can take advantage of the new generation of strains, too, by selling their product directly to customers.
“We think that the biggest winners will be the people who can’t get access to the best strains,” Shafer said.