Hamilton-based Zentrela working to understand the cannabis experience

What comes to your mind when you hear cannabis edibles?"

It might dial you back to college when a friend baked cannabis brownies that left you feeling high for hours, or sometimes, days.

It's different today.

Cannabis edibles no longer only mean your dorm room brownies. Instead, it can also refer to sophisticated beverages, snacks, or vape flavours produced in a controlled, certified environment.

But some consumers don't understand how most modern cannabis edibles interact with their minds and bodies - When do you start feeling the effects? How long does it last?

Zentrela, a Hamilton-based research and artificial intelligence company, partnered with Collective Project - known for its cannabis beverages - to find those answers, and to understand the non-therapeutic experience that legal cannabis products may create," the study said.

Using its novel neurotechnology system called Cognalyzer, Zentrela quantified the psychoactive effects of cannabis beverages through changes in brainwaves caused by tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) - the principal component in cannabis that alters the state of mind.

The study showed it takes about 17 minutes on average for the psychoactive effects of a Collective Project beverage to kick in, while the peak occurred at the two-hour mark after finishing the cannabis beverage.

But why is this information not already available to consumers?

It's because the Cannabis Act heavily restricts the promotion or glorification of cannabis and cannabis-infused products unless based on scientific research," said Toni Shelton, director of brand marketing at Collective Project.

Israel Gasperin, a McMaster alumnus and founder of Zentrela, told The Spectator, that modern cannabis companies work with an advanced (drug) delivery method" that can create psychoactive effects between 20 to 30 minutes as opposed to traditional homemade cannabis edibles, but the consumers do not know any of this information."

Mostly, products with the same level of THC are assumed to create the same effects," said Gasperin. But that's not true because of the additional unique characteristics in the way products are formulated."

Zentrela conducted research with 30 participants who consumed Collective Project's Blood Orange, Yuzu & Vanilla Sparkling Juice. The study mentioned participants as experienced cannabis consumers," with 80 per cent of them reporting using cannabis at least once a month.

Besides recording the effects of cannabis via brainwaves, Zentrela also established the emotional effects of the drink on the participants.

Within two hours of consumption, participants reported a 22 per cent increase in serenity, a 40 per cent increase in relaxation, and a 34 per cent increase in happiness.

Five hours after consumption, serenity was up by 47 per cent, while relaxation, happiness, and peacefulness also improved.

Based on the findings, Collective Project has launched a six-month-long campaign to educate and train bud tenders.

Although the current study is specific to Collective Project, Zentrela is opening the floodgates for other cannabis companies to be able to have (similar) data at their disposal," Shelton added.

Ritika Dubey is a reporter at The Spectator. rdubey@thespec.com