There’s a little trepidation when trying something for the first time, but if you have experienced allies in your corner, it’s often less worrisome venturing into the unknown.
Although Canada legalized cannabis back in October 2018, some are still discovering it for the first time. The House of Cannabis often sees first-timers walk into their store looking to learn more about weed.
While alcohol is perfectly acceptable in most cases, there still is a stigma around marijuana. Benjamin Tran is the founder and CEO of the House of Cannabis in Barrie.
Anytime a cannabis newbie comes in, it’s an opportunity for their budtenders to lessen that stigma and do some educating.
“For new customers, if they’re coming into the cannabis scene, they’re asking: ‘How do I start,’ or ‘What should I buy?’” Train said. “From there, we try to figure out how they want to consume, whether it’s pre-rolls, flower, beverage, edibles, whatever it is, and isolate the best product for them.”
While regulars are pretty familiar with the product lines and what they’re looking for, first-timers often come in with a lot of questions about cannabis and its various effects.
With 300 products in store, it can be an intimidating environment to walk into, but once budtenders ask a few questions, they can drill down and recommend a few products based on the customer’s preference.
“What effect are you looking for or what outcome are you looking for? Whether you want something to help you relax, to make you more energetic, something to give you a calming feeling; that’s one of the first questions we ask,” Tran said.
“Canna-curious” is the term for people looking to dabble into cannabis for the first time, and they’re often surprised by the number of options available to them today.
Everyone has that image in their mind of a prototypical weed smoker, but today’s cannabis user covers all different demographics.
There are some people that are looking for a specific high, but not everyone’s looking for the highest potency cannabis in most cases. They’re experimenting with CBD, CBN, cannabinoids and the different effects they have on people.
“I think more people are accepting of cannabis, and having a different category mix helps that a lot,” Tran said. “The regular image people think about is someone standing at the corner smoking a joint. However, there is innovation every day with edibles, topicals, all these things that are reducing the stigma.”
“Also, people are educating themselves. They’re talking to other people about cannabis, coming into the store and talking to our budtenders. There’s still a long way to go to make it normalized, but every day we’re making progress.”
You’ve got cannabis questions, and The House of Cannabis has answers.
Talk to a budtender and they’ll find a recommendation for you. Drop into The House of Cannabis or place an order for same-day delivery online here.