Testing the Hypothesis, Part 1

1. The Opportunity: Accessibility to organic, CBD-based medications for pet owners and their animals.

2. Opportunity Who, What, Why: Pet owners, caretakers, veterinarians, and organizations do not have access to organic, cannabis-based medications for animals due to the previous and ongoing prohibition of cannabis products as well as the fledgling nature of the medical cannabis industry in the United States.

Who: Pet owners, caretakers, veterinarians, and organizations

What: do not have access to organic, cannabis-based medications for animals

Why: due to the previous and ongoing prohibition of cannabis products as well as the fledgling nature of the medical cannabis industry in the United States.

3. Opportunity Hypothesis:

Testing the Who: Everyone in my current "who" shares this need, but there may be others that it would apply to. Zoos, rehabilitation centers, and conservation centers might all be able to find a use for CBD-based treatments for animals. Various sports as well, not that I support those like dog and horse racing, but also such sports as polo and steeplechase could possibly make use of these treatments to help their animals recover from injuries or illness.

Testing the What: The boundaries for this need vary greatly. The legality of cannabis-based treatments of any kind is blurry at the state level, while being completely illegal federally. In places that are legalized, it may be difficult to acquire medicines dosed for or prescribed for animals, especially in cases where veterinarians or pharmacies might have moral or professional objections to the use of these treatments for animals. There is also a societal component as well, with many people still generally uninformed about CBD treatments, often maintaining incorrect or outdated assumptions about cannabis in general.

Testing the Why: The above boundaries have many different reasons for existence. As far as government prohibition goes, this is largely still in place due to the placement of cannabis as a schedule 1 drug, despite its medical uses. Societal understandings of cannabis also come into play with the above boundaries. Many people who maintain these today, and are ostensibly also in control of organization policies that might prevent its use like those of veterinary organizations and the like most likely grew up in the time of Reefer Madness or DARE, further fueling incorrect assumptions about CBD medicines.

4. Interview Summary 1: The first interviewee was my girlfriend, who is a pet owner and also runs a feline rescue group in Northern Florida. Her understanding of CBD treatments comes mainly from the experiences of close friends and colleagues who have utilized human treatments. Her group would have lots of uses for these treatments, especially considering how versatile these treatments are. The fact that they're completely natural and safe, even in large doses, helps a lot as well. In her experience, administering medications to animals is not the most exact science given their propensity for resisting. There is some resistance, among members of her group, particularly those who maintain a negative view of cannabis in general.

Interview Summary 2: The second interviewee was my mom, a pet owner, as well as somebody whose early exposure to cannabis in general would have been through such programs and films as Reefer Madness. She first heard of CBD treatments through a 60 minutes special, and has learned more through research for my step father. She is open to the use of CBD treatments, especially given the problems associated with aging animals, but knows many people in her circle of friends who would shy away from such treatments. Concerns over legality issues in some states are also concerning to her for career reasons.

Interview Summary 3: The third interviewee was a friend of my step father's who is a veterinarian. He is kind of the hippie type, so he certainly did not have any moral objectives to cannabis or CBD treatments, but according to him there are certain barriers to this in the veterinary community. These barriers typically come in the form of prohibitions that could cost him his license to practice, which would be disastrous for his family. There are also no dedicated pharmacies for animal CBD treatments, making legitimate prescriptions difficult if not impossible to offer.

Interview Summary 4: My grandmother was the fourth interviewee. Given the generational gap between her and the other interviewees, I expected some drastic differences in opinion, and I was correct. Despite her nursing background, she was still concerned about such treatments, particularly for her animals. The societal role in concerns over cannabis treatments seems to be one of the largest obstacles when it comes to finding support and customers in a broader market. She did, however, acknowledge the medical uses of CBD, so perhaps these societal boundaries can be pushed beyond in certain cases.

Interview Summary 5: The last interviewee was a friend of my aunt's who at one time worked for a prominent zoo. Much like my family's veterinarian friend, there are many boundaries in this field that just cannot be broken in this case. Not only are there concerns from oversight groups and those that accredit zoos and aquariums, but also from the boards of the various zoos, who are concerned with many issues such as public perception, profit margins, and broader conservation programs and interactions with other zoos, all of which could be imperiled by such a treatment program.

5. Overall Summary: The above interviews gave me a lot of information I did not know before, particularly regarding common prejudices towards cannabis treatments. Such prejudices may not be feasible to work around, especially in cases of professional boundaries. This opportunity, based on all of this, would most likely have to be a private use, over the counter treatment for smaller issues such as pain relief rather than something that is prescribed by a veterinarian or used in other professional settings. It would also start out as a niche product due to societal prejudices, and it is possible that the product would remain this way.