Colorado’s relationship with legal marijuana has been a very interesting and eventful journey over the years. Beginning with medical use only and slowly progressing to recreational, the now billion dollar industry has had its share of ups and downs, with many new trends that have developed along the way. One trend that seemed to start with medical patients, but slowly has creeped into the recreational scene is the growing popularity of low THC weed. Let’s take a look at how and why this new marijuana trend has developed in Colorado and other places with legal marijuana.

The Session IPA of Marijuana

For many people, marijuana and beer pair together like peanut butter and jelly, so let’s start with taking a look at how the craft beer industry has changed and how it’s been mirrored in the weed industry. When the craft beer took Colorado by storm and consumers started to open themselves up to new brews, the IPA was the stepping stone into the craft scene. At that time the big macro-brew players like Budweiser and Coors, weren’t interested in the heavily hopped, high alcohol beers we have today, so for many drinkers an IPA was something they’d never tried before. These beers became all the rage in Denver and the rest of Colorado, with people waxing lyrical about their 8%+ abv and plethora of hop varieties that would blast their palate to a place it’s never been before.

While the IPA definitely has it’s positives, people also noticed some pretty harsh negatives as well. Let’s start with the hangover they produce. Anyone who’s got drunk primarily off IPA’s knows the feeling of what I like to call, the ‘axe pick in the frontal lobe headache.’ While a seasoned drinker might have been able to handle 5+ Bud Lights in a night and feel fine the next day, the 8% IPA got people drunk faster and made their brains hurt the next day.

As the craft beer industry developed, more styles began to arise, and while the IPA still is and always will remain popular, some drinkers began to consume this style less because of the consequences it has as a result of its high alcohol content. Breweries realized this and to adapt, a new style of beer was created, which was called the session IPA. This was a beer where the hop character of the IPA remained, but the alcohol percentage was turned way down, with 5% or less for the average sessions IPA. This opened up a new sector of the market to the IPA beer, those who wanted the taste, but didn’t want to feel drunk after just a couple beers.

Low THC Weed

Following stride with the session IPA movement, marijuana enthusiasts also found themselves in a similar situation as legal marijuana became more and more accessible, with a large variety of strains and products available. As grow houses continue to improve their abilities, strains have become better and better, with THC potency being higher than it’s ever been for many different types of marijuana. For the seasoned smoker, this mean’t more bang for your buck, and a better, longer high, but for the casual weed user, sometimes an edible or even a few hits off the bong could mean they might be too high to function normally. Like IPA’s in the beginning, where the stronger and more powerful the better, legal marijuana growers were all about trying to produce the best and highest THC content for their customers. However, as the market has matured and opened up to a variety of different types of people, there’s been a new demand for low THC weed.

Low THC Marijuana and Medical Patients

While Low THC weed is somewhat a new trend for recreational users, medical patients have desired these types of strains for a long time. Medical marijuana has a plethora of benefits from helping with insomnia to improving migraines, and while some users enjoy the high that comes with the benefit, others are simply looking for something to improve their condition. If a migraine pops up at an inopportune time, a medical patient may not want to get too high depending on the time of day and what they are doing. For these type of situations, a low THC marijuana was a perfect and very desired solution, which is why this type of weed was developed.

Low THC Cannabis for Recreational Users

Marijuana tolerance can vary greatly from person to person. Some people can manage to take high octane dabs of concentrate and handle physical activity, social interactions, and high cognitive tasks. Others have a few puffs off a joint and might be couch-locked and stuck deep inside their own thoughts for hours as a results. For the latter, a new demand of low THC weed has started to grow more and more. Like drinking, smoking marijuana is a social activity, and a joint with low levels of THC that everyone can enjoy, is a great social lubricant that can appeal to all different levels of marijuana users. This trend seems to be taking off in Colorado and as more and more people decide to dabble in marijuana, it looks as if it’s here to stay.