Of the many buzz words and lingo one hears in the cannabis world, “legitimacy” is bound to pop up. How can businesses become more legitimate? How can we change the perceptions of consumers, regulators and the public at large? An often overlooked piece to that puzzle is the role science has played in not only raising the quality and consistency of products offered on the consumer market, but also easing human suffering in medical patients.

Who could forget Dr. Sanjay Gupta’s groundbreaking piece reversing his attitudes about legal cannabis after studying the molecular structure of the plant and seeing its medicinal qualities change lives in people like Charlotte Figi.

CannLabs’ Genifer Murray is at the forefront of the movement to make research and testing a bedrock of the cannabis industry. According to her:

"Science has played a huge part in legitimizing this industry. The more we find out about the plant, the better it’s going to be for patients and consumers.” Murray continues: "Without science, we can only anecdotally talk about this plant and I want hard facts."

It's a sentiment echoed by others in the industry looking to elevate the quality of their products. Julie Dooley, a CannLabs customer herself explains how she hopes to use research and testing to offer products to her customers with scientifically proven therapeutic and medicinal effects.

"We know that sativas are uplifting and very euphoric. We know indicas are sleepy and relaxing... But we can go further than that because now we know there are indicas that aren't sleepy at all, but they are extraordinary pain relievers. Once we start studying this further, this is just the beginning. Especially in California where people are really studying the terpenes and the flavonoids that are inside along with the cannabinoids. Once we find a strain, we hope to be able to determine: What's in this? What's spiking?"

Dooley contends that years down the road, science and research are going to allow retailers to definitively help consumers target symptoms like anxiety or pain relief.