There’s a lot to love about cannabis, from the sense of calm and relaxation many stoners seek out to its many potential medical benefits. However, it goes without saying that even the most seasoned cannabis users and lovers have had their share of bad highs. Now a mother-son duo from Boston say they have the solution, according to a CBS News report.
Eli Stoloff is a recent Cornell University graduate and cited personal experience taking an edible at school with no easy way to quickly come down.
“It’s because of the delayed effect of edibles,” Stoloff said. “You eat a gummy bear, wait 10 minutes, I haven’t felt anything, and you eat two more. An hour later you’re on your bathroom floor wondering where you are.”
Stoloff and his mother Alice Stone developed a chocolate bar, called Soft Landing, that they say gives cannabis users more control over their experience after consuming cannabis.
“I like to describe it as a reverse edible,” Stoloff said. “So, whereas a normal edible brings you up with THC, Soft Landing brings you down.”
Stone has a relevant background herself, as an entrepreneur with experience in non-traditional healing methods. According to the report, the duo found a medical journal article describing a naturally occurring molecule found in some herbs and spices that could reverse THC’s psychoactive effects.
The process involved a lot of trial and error, according to Stoloff, though they finally settled on a formula that would best deliver “the maximum amount of this molecule.” They pressed on to conduct a medical survey on Soft Landing, which found 80% of participants rating it as either “effective” or “very effective.”
Soft Landing now has an investor in Sean Hope, co-founder of Yamba Market in Cambridge, who tried the chocolate himself and said it “really balanced me out.”
I felt the impact right away. And my conclusion was, this works!” he said.
Stoloff and Stone told CBS News they believe they’ve settled on the proper formula for success. Soft Landing is set to hit the consumer market next and is still looking for another round of investors to scale production.
“I think we’ve got a winner here and I feel like together we can be unstoppable,” Stoloff said.
If the product is as effective as it appears, Soft Landing and other similar products could be huge in the cannabis space. In general, we have yet to collectively pin down a quick solution to shorten the duration of a cannabis high.
Many suggest to simply dose slowly and avoid high-potency, high-dose products to avoid becoming too high. If someone is already experiencing an unpleasant high, grounding techniques and distractions could help, but generally time is thought to be the only true solution.
However, research has shown that CBD could potentially help to mellow some of the more abrasive elements of a bad high, like anxiety, paranoia or panic.
Researchers in one 2019 study noted how CBD synergistically responds to THC and other cannabinoids when taken together, ultimately understood as the entourage effect. Many consumers who have adverse effects to THC may already go for higher-CBD, lower-THC products, which are becoming increasingly available in dispensaries and hemp-derived cannabinoid markets.
The study found that “CBD was also able to reverse the anxiety-like behaviour and addictive-like behaviour caused by the THC.”
Unfortunately, other research has found that CBD doesn’t necessarily show evidence of reducing adverse side effects of THC. One recent study even suggested that CBD may magnify the effects of THC in edibles. Ultimately, researchers said that future studies are needed to better understand the impact of CBD and THC in this regard.
