The emergence of a post-prohibition cannabis industry has begun, and with it the rapid opportunity for restoration pros to respond to property management’s need for odor elimination and other environmental services. Currently, 34 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico have approved medical and/or recreational cannabis programs for their citizens. Increasingly, residential and commercial property managers are looking for fast and complete odor elimination of cannabis grow houses with products that are safe on building materials and leave no harmful chemical residue. Additionally, in select areas, legal cannabis grows are looking for support in creating clean indoor environments, which we’ll touch on at the end of this article.
Terpenes are responsible for the scent of cannabis as well as other plants like pines and lavender. Terpenes are strong odor hydrocarbons that work to protect plants by deterring herbivores or by attracting predators of herbivores. A terpene is an odorant, a substance that can elicit an olfactory response. An odorant differs from an odor in that an odor is the sensation resulting from the stimulation of the olfactory organs, an intricate system of nerves and receptors that begins with the human nose and is ultimately processed in various parts of the brain. Olfaction, the sense of smell, is the least understood of the five senses. In fact, the ability to perceive an odor varies widely among individuals. A study cited by Iowa State University Extension reported “more than a thousand-fold difference between the least and the most sensitive individuals in (smell) acuity have been observed.” Cannabis grows, legal and otherwise, produce a variety of odors including those from the plants themselves and combustion of the flower, from chemicals used for fertilizing and pest control and from packaging and other materials used for processing.