It now accounts for up to 10% of edible product sales in some US states. CBN – cannabinol for close friends – is more and more present on the shelves of shops specializing in cannabis. The proof: in four states of the American West (California, Colorado, Oregon, Nevada) the market share of CBN has… quadrupled, in just one year.
Cannabinol is obtained by long exposure to the light of cannabis flowers. Its market represented 5 million dollars in the spring of 2020. A year later, it sells for 23 million dollars per quarter, according to the calculations of specialized companies compiled by Hemp Industry Daily.
The market share is also increasing. In California, 11% of edible cannabis product purchases are CBN products. This figure was only 4% a year ago. In Oregon, Nevada and Colorado, the market share reaches 10%, 7%, and 4%, respectively. In these three states, there were virtually no sales of CBNs a year earlier.
Sleeping aid or placebo?
Companies have found their angle of attack to sell CBN well: a good night’s sleep. Cannabinol is indeed recognized as “soporific”. In 2017, the Steep Hill laboratory even wrote that “ consumption of 2.5 to 5 mg of CBN has the same level of sedation as a pharmaceutical drug, with a feeling of relaxation equivalent to 5 to 10 mg of diazepam “, a well-known sleeping pill.
But the laboratory backtracked. He now writes on his website: “It has been argued that CBD shows promise in the treatment of insomnia, but with the arrival of new studies, sedation is not observed. Further research is required. ”
So, placebo or a powerful sleeping pill? Rather the second answer, for Dr. Ethan Russo, director of research at the National Institute of Cannabis and Cannabinoids, quoted by Leafly. The scientist considers that CBN is no more sedative than another cannabinoid. On the other hand, it is very effective when combined with THC.
And that, the industrialists understood it well. The proof: in California, where cannabis is legal, the best-selling CBN product is the Midnight Blueberry Camino. These blackberry candies contain a THC: CBN ratio of 5: 1. This little blue tin has become the best-selling edible product in California.
