ADVERTORIAL
ON HOME SOIL
The American CBD industry had a head start in attracting curious cannabis
consumers from the UK. But it’s now having to compete with a diverse and
innovative domestic marketplace.
The UK’s cannabis conversation has changed considerably since
the medical variety was legalized in November 2018. The British
public has become far more open to embracing cannabis in day-to-
day life, which has allowed the CBD industry to diversify and enter
all-new spaces.
Dan Currey is founder of ICE Headshop. The company opened in
2012 as an archetypal headshop selling seeds and paraphernalia.
The CBD boom in the US presented an opportunity to reach a more
“I see the rise of more
cannabinoids over CBD
and I think CBG will be
big”
mainstream audience.
“Initially it was only CBD e-liquids that were available, but then more
and more types of CBD were coming out,” Dan said.
“I’m actually uploading products now, a whole range of things like
balms, rubs and roll-ons and gummy bears. The list is endless.”
is processed. “If you sell a European hemp strain ground up in
a teabag and market it as a tea, hemp tea has been around for
thousands of years, so they can’t really get you for that.
“But if you just have a plant, call it ‘White Widow’ and just say it’s a
Much like in the US, UK business marketing practices are limited by tea, it’s not going to fl y. It has to be actual tea.”
what they can actually say about their products and CBD generally. Whatever happens with fl ower, 2020 is already looking like a year
But this is not the barrier to business that it was in the early days. of competitive innovation for companies like ICE Headshop. And
“Customers e-mail and call me all the time saying that they’ve got
a certain ailment. We can be vague and advise them but obviously
we can’t be explicit in our descriptions.
“The general public are now more educated about it than they were
while CBD has stolen the show up until now, it seems that the so-
called minor cannabinoids will muscle in on the action. “I see the
rise of more cannabinoids and I think CBG will be big.
“We’re about to bring out a disposable pen which contains a
before anyway.” freeform distillate that’s going to have about 50% CBD, 8% CBG, 5%
While there are more CBD consumers in the UK than ever before, CBDC and 10% other cannabinoids.
uncertainty remains about the legality of raw, unprocessed hemp
“It’s an amazing array of cannabinoids in one little disposable pen
fl ower, which can be found in headshops and vape shops all over and we’re hoping it’s going to be very big, but we’ll see what
the UK and is widely available in the US. happens.”
Dan believes that its legal status is all a matter of how the fl ower
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