This research paper by Daniel Bear and his team at the Humber College in Ontario, Canada, offers a unique perspective on the current harm reduction approach in public cannabis education while advocating for a unique enhancement of the current harm reduction efforts through Mindful Consumption and Benefit Maximization.
I was pretty mind-blown when I got this research paper sent over by Christina from EduCanNation, as the paper goes into great detail about the benefits of Mindful Consumption, Benefit Maximization and creating greater awareness through harm reduction efforts beyond the scope of simply just mongering fear amongst consumers.
That being said, I wanted to use this article to give you some insights and a proper overview of the incredible thought-leading work that the team at Humber College has created here.
The “regular” harm reduction approach
Traditionally, harm reduction is an approach to warning people about the potential risks of consuming drugs, especially hard drugs like opioids, cocaine, and methamphetamine, which can have detrimental impacts on the health and well-being of their consumers; and while these traditional harm reduction interventions where successful in reducing the transmission of HIV and Hepatitis C among people who injected drugs as well as reducing opioid related overdose and morbidity and mortality amongst opioid users, this traditional approach may be overdue when it comes to educating about safe cannabis use as cannabis has by far less severe side effects than these hard drugs.
The research paper: Harm Reduction isn’t enough: Introducing the concept of Mindful Consumption and Benefit Maximization states this as follows:
“[…] promoting harm reduction practices to people consuming cannabis is a more difficult challenge. Cannabis cannot cause death due to overconsumption, is not associated with the spread of communicable diseases, and is overall a relatively harmless drug both to the individual and society when compared with other legal substances such as tobacco and alcohol. Harm reduction campaigns targeted at cannabis consumers run the risk of sounding overly fearful and stigmatizing, ultimately being ignored like many of the old demand reduction initiatives. Cannabis does have potential harms, and teaching people to mitigate those harms is an important public health goal.”
“As noted, in the pre harm reduction era, drug education campaigns traditionally employed abstinence-based messages that leveraged fear and stigma to dissuade consumption. Such approaches have been largely ineffective […] as they fail to mobilize tangible information and develop skills to make informed decisions about substance use […]”
“Many people enjoy using cannabis. In fact, cannabis is the most widely used drug, with an estimated 219 million consumers worldwide. However, enjoyment is not usually discussed in debates about drug policy. Even progressive approaches such as harm reduction tend to begin discussing drug consumption by focusing on the potential negative outcomes associated with substance use. But we must posit that the continued growth in the number of people who use cannabis must be at least partially attributable to the enjoyment or benefits derived by at least some who consume it. Given the widespread use of cannabis by young people, we believe it is important to provide information to consumers on how to consume safely and maximize the benefits they experience when consuming cannabis while also avoiding the potential harms of consumption. In doing so, we may more effectively engage young people than by a singular focus on potential harms.”
In other words, Cannabis is not only a safer drug to consume but also a drug that is widely consumed around the world for enjoyment and medical application, thereby showing that consumers do have positive cannabis experiences which need to be talked about while also touching on the potential harms that especially prolonged use of high-potency cannabis can cause.
As a result, harm reduction efforts should shift their paradigm from the one-sided fear-mongering and warning messages of potential adverse reactions to a more balanced approach that includes the other side of the spectrum of using cannabis as a social lubricant and medicine.
This is where Mindful consumption and Benefit Maximization come into play.
Mindful consumption & Benefit maximization
“This departure from harm-focused practices is where mindful consumption and benefit maximization (MCBM) become relevant. ’Mindful consumption’ involves the intentional and thoughtful use of substances, […]. On the other hand, ’benefit maximization’ seeks to enhance the positive aspects of substance use, such as therapeutic effects and pleasure/enjoyment […]. When coupled together, MCBM enables individuals to make informed choices that not only enhance their safety but also maximize the enjoyment or beneficial use of substances.”
Mindful Consumption and Benefit Maximization have been core parts of our education and workshops for a while now. Funnily enough, though, we didn’t know that these were actual academic terms for a new paradigm of harm reduction back when I started creating our educational materials.
For me, as someone who started to consume cannabis to experience greater health and well-being in my life, my consumption was naturally always centred around the question, Why do I consume right now? And what am I trying to gain from my consumption right now?
However, as I entered the Canadian cannabis industry and had more access and more reasons to consume daily, those questions slowly disappeared into the background. Consequently, over the past years in Canada, cannabis consumption became more of a lifestyle and habit rather than an intentional practice to reap certain benefits.
Still, the past years of daily and often mindless cannabis consumption have taken their toll on me, especially because these days, I feel like over 90% of flower products in a cannabis store are at enormously high THC percentages that cause me to experience manic anxiety, paranoia and paralysis.
It’s a funny paradox because back in the day, when I still enjoyed consuming cannabis, I would have hoped that more people talked about its benefits, and now that I’m mostly having bad experiences, I’d hope that more people would be open to sharing those sides of the cannabis coin as well. Still, I find that especially these parts like to be disregarded within our current cannabis community here in Canada and instead of hearing someone out and accepting someones abstinence from cannabis, we instead engage in arbitrary discussions around “right dosing” and “right strains” while really, not everyone needs to consume cannabis all the time - yes! that even counts for people who passionately work in this industry!
If there’s one thing that I’ve learned during the past years of working and consuming daily in the legal Canadian cannabis industry, then it’s that cannabis is one of the most individualistic drugs in the world which means that every individual is responsible for their own use or non-use of the incredible plant and this is why I find Mindful Consumption and Benefit Maximization being so powerful as they give all the power and all the responsibility back to you, the individual consumer.
This is why I love the approach that Daniel Bear’s Research Paper suggests, which is as follows:
“Cannabis education for young people should emphasize mindful consumption and not shy away from identifying how people who choose to consume cannabis can derive the most benefit from their consumption. In contrast to the conventional harm reduction approach, which often begins with discussions of potential risks, this new approach should be framed in non-stigmatizing, empowering language that engages rather than discourages the consumer. By leading with an acknowledgement that the potential consumer is looking to experience some benefit, and being seen to offer tools that guide the process of navigating drug use, MCMB-based platforms meet the consumer where they’re at instead of presenting a list of possible threats. Any MCBM education would likely follow a path similar to the following:
- Assess one’s motivation and goals for consuming cannabis
- Try to focus on understanding one’s unique reactions to cannabis, and how their current mindset and situational environment might impact their experience.
- Identify desired effects and pathways that might facilitate those effects.
- Consider potential negative impacts of cannabis, both short and longterm, and on themselves and others, and how those might be reduced.
Creating these principles on their own provides only limited support for consumers’ ability to engage with this new approach, and a new suite of tools must be made available to guide consumers through this process in situ, pipe, or bong, or joint in hand.”
I especially love the phrasing here that emphasizes the initial way most consumers get into cannabis, which is with the intention of getting some benefit (whether it be social, spiritual, mental or medical) from their cannabis consumption.
Further, we got incredibly excited about the last paragraph that mentions the “new suite of tools [that] must be made available to guide consumers through this [mindful] process in situ, pipe, or bong, or joint in hand,” because that is precisely what we at Sensemillier have been passionately developing over the past years.
Mindful Cannabis Workshops & Tools
As I’m rounding up this article, I just wanted to take a moment to thank Daniel Bear and his fantastic team for this incredibly thought-leading research paper and invite you to check out their public education campaign, Weed Out Misinformation.
I got so excited about this research paper that immediately after reading it, I reached out to Daniel Bear and had the pleasure of chatting with him about his phenomenal work and how incredibly synergistic it ties into our Sensemillier work, education and Grading Platform.
That being said, the research paper "Harm Reduction isn’t enough: Introducing the concept of Mindful Consumption and Benefit Maximization" will from now on be a fundamental part of our resources surrounding our education and advocacy at Sensemillier and it has given me a lot to think about by significantly affecting my perspective on what harm reduction and responsible cannabis use should be all about.
To finish with a last quote of the paper:
”The idea of discussing any drug's consumption without primarily emphasizing the potential harms may leave a sour taste in policy makers’ and parents’ mouths. However, hesitancy based on long-fomented stigma and fear is not justification to avoid taking the next step in cannabis education. Harm reduction moved past failed demand reduction efforts but was, and in many areas remains, stymied by the hesitancy to acknowledge that some people will seek pleasure from drug use. If the MCBM approach were in place now, we would not write a pamphlet called Safety First. Instead, we would write one called, ‘Why do you want to consume cannabis, and what do you want from that experience?’. It isn’t quite as catchy, but as a society, we’re ready to have that discussion.”
May you consume safe and beneficial friends, and may you reach out to us at info@sensemillier.com if you have any questions or would like to sign up for our workshops or the Sensemillier Grading Platform.
Much love,
Tommi
Resource:
Harm reduction isn’t enough: Introducing the concept of Mindful Consumption and Benefit Maximization (MCBM). Bear, D., Hosker-Field, A., Westall, K., D’Alessio, H., & Cresswell, M. (2025). International Journal of Drug Policy, 138. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2024.104514