Background: In many jurisdictions, medical cannabis programs present challenges for businesses and patients alike, including onerous regulations, advertising and financial censorship, and other marketplace disadvantages. As the medical cannabis industry struggles to adapt among a patchwork of regulatory environments, the nutritional supplement sector of the hemp market continues to grow while enjoying advantages like interstate commerce and the use of conventional payment methods. Hemp customers also benefit from
a more competitive and free marketplace. Novel hemp-derived product classes have emerged to meet consumers’ needs, including Cannabigerol (CBG)-dominant formulations and 2018 Farm Bill-compliant THC-containing edibles. These hemp products offer potentially-therapeutic effects for people with conditions for which cannabis is commonly used, including chronic pain and anxiety, may provide therapeutic benefits for individuals who have not responded favorably to the more commonly available CBD-dominant hemp products, and may enable greater access to the therapeutic effects of clinically-relevant doses of THC.

CBG is becoming increasingly popular among consumers, yet we still have very little human clinical evidence that characterize its therapeutic effects, adverse effects, effective dosages, and typical use patterns. With preclinical studies suggesting substantial a therapeutic potential in several conditions, more human data on CBG-dominant products is needed. Additionally, increasing clinical data demonstrate substantial benefits of therapeutic cannabis use for people with dementia; the potential to achieve similar results with hemp products
remains largely unexplored.

Objective: We aimed to evaluate the reasons for use, usage patterns, therapeutic effects, adverse effects, and qualitative reports of two populations of consumers, one using CBG- dominant and another using THC-containing hemp products, both with well-characterized compositions and dosing formats amenable to reporting specific dosages.