Medical Marijuana: The Significance and The Supply Chain
The recent legalization of medical marijuana in influential countries like the USA caused explosive growth in the pharmaceutical field. Although the demand for medical marijuana has always existed, the restrictions regarding the law and enforcement have made only a meager amount of it legally available and this scenario is finally nearing an end.
The advocates of the legalization of medical marijuana were basing their arguments on the great medical implications of the legalization of marijuana. It is proven to be having energizer components and relaxation components in abundance. The significance of medical marijuana is incomparable and the process of cultivating, reaping, transporting, and retailing it demands more attention from the general public as they are strenuous processes.
Significance of medical marijuana
Despite the ethical and societal aspects and implications, medical marijuana has proven to be ideal for safe administration in humans for medical purposes. It was proven through experiments and observations that extracts of marijuana are good at relieving the symptoms of numerous health ailments including multiple sclerosis, chronic pain, and cancer chemotherapy.
In studies conducted on mental health patients like persons suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder, small quantities of medical marijuana caused significant improvement in terms of the quality of sleep and the frequency of nightmares. It has also proven useful in improving appetite in AIDS patients. It can be observed that the medical benefits associated with marijuana undoubtedly foreshadow its negative effects and abuses.
It was not just recently that the medical and health implications of marijuana were brought to light. It is historically recorded that the mentioning of marijuana as a method of easing pain was found in records as old as 2737 BC. According to the records back then, marijuana was used extensively for treating malaria, poor memory, rheumatism, etc.
In the later years, the influence and popularity of medical marijuana were spread across the globe including Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, and the substance was used even to lighten the pain during childbirth. The therapeutic qualities of marijuana attracted the attention of academia also when more than a hundred medical journals on the positive aspects of marijuana were published between 1840 and 1900 in both US and Europe.
In 1999, an American team of researchers came up with actual scientific proof which shows that marijuana does possess great therapeutic values and can be used to reduce pain and stress for chronic patients, only by safe administration. As a result of extensive medical research and studies, restrictions on the use of medical marijuana were lifted from many places across the world like Arizona, Winnipeg, Surrey, etc. and it has gained much popularity that dispensaries that offer marijuana delivery in Winnipeg and similar places have mushroomed extensively.
Production and Distribution
One of the major challenges faced by persons using medical marijuana is to ensure the quality of the substance used. As they are capable of intoxication and developing a dependency on the user, it is important to use high-quality products to maintain an equilibrium between the products and the body.
To understand more about the quality of cannabis products, a good understanding of how the production and the distribution of medical marijuana have to be made. The supply chain of medical marijuana spans several processes which include cultivation of cannabis, manufacturing of the extract, distribution, transportation, and retail. Each stage has to be carried out effectively to maintain the quality of the product created and compromising the quality at any one stage could hurt the quality of the marijuana produced.
Cultivation: Cultivating cannabis is not an easy task as it cannot be grown easily like any other plant, but rather it has to have several requirements to obtain quality extracts from the plants grown. One of them is the soil. The soil in which cannabis is grown has to have sufficient nutrition content and sufficient pH value.
The temperature of the environment should not be of any extremes as chances are low for a cannabis plant to survive temperature extremities. Light is another important criterion, but it is not recommended to provide more than 13 hours of constant and continuous light as it could adversely affect the quality of the flowers.
Manufacturing:The manufacturing process of cannabis to convert it into proper medical marijuana includes several steps like harvesting, drying, curing, extraction, etc. The cannabis buds are dried at the minimum temperature inside a dark room and once properly dried, they are processed for various products.
Along with the pure form of marijuana, different products like edibles, by-products like CBD oil, etc. are also produced at this stage. Once the concentrates and the by-products like brownies and cookies are made, they are put to test to identify and analyze the quality and the potential.
Although the testing requirements and guidelines are different in different places, generally they all look for the presence of any unwanted substances like the pesticides in marijuana as it could compromise the quality of the substance.Once the tests are cleared, the products are packed properly and stored in warehouses ready to enter the supply chain.
Distribution: This is the stage in which the marijuana products finally hit the road. The appropriately packed marijuana products are separated into various sections like extracts, edibles, concentrates, pre-rolls, etc., and are distributed to wholesale dealers who are in the respective fields. The wholesale buyers are expected to have storage facilities, freight vehicles, etc. for the safe storage and transportation of the products into the retail markets.
Transportation and Retailing: The products acquired by the wholesale buyers are then transported to locations where medical marijuana sales are legal and permitted and via the retailers, the products hit the market. numerous dispensaries and shops are dedicated to the sales of medical marijuana and weed sales in various parts of various countries, and the retailers are afterward responsible for the sale of the products.
The products are segregated according to their purpose and nature and are put up for sale. Retailers like the Green Mates in Winnipeg bringthe best weed delivery in Winnipeg and the best edible delivery in Winnipeg to the customers to provide top-quality medical marijuana products to the community.