Boston Globe By Felicia Gans Globe Staff,Updated March 1, 2019, 12:00 a.m.
PURIENT/SIRA NATURALS
The marijuana industry is about to get sexier.
A cannabis-infused lubricant is hitting dispensary shelves this week for the first time in Massachusetts, and the product’s creators hope it revolutionizes the way people think about marijuana.
“We designed Purient to kind of be the end-all-be-all to this whole category. It’s stronger than other products that even try to come close to what we’re doing. It’s designed to be more effective,” said Sieh Samura, who created the lubricant alongside his wife, Leah.
The Samuras, who live in Mattapan, started their business, 612 Studios, in February 2018, and began working with the Sira Accelerator program in October to turn their idea, already several years in the making, into a reality.
The accelerator program, engineered by Sira Naturals, was launched to help cannabis entrepreneurs and companies scale their products and get them into the market. Purient is the first product to launch from the program.
Though 612 Studios has quite some time before it can receive a manufacturing license — the Samuras have not yet submitted a full application to the Cannabis Control Commission — Sira has licensed the recipe and intellectual property to manufacture and sell the product in the company’s dispensaries.
“It puts their product on the shelf faster, they get exposure in the marketplace for it, they build their brand, and not only that, they get a piece of every sale of their product,” said Michael Dundas, president and CEO of Sira Naturals.
Medical marijuana patients can buy Purient at Sira’s medical dispensaries in Cambridge, Somerville, and Needham, starting Friday.
The inspiration for Purient, which costs $50 for a 5-milliliter bottle, came from a variety of places. For one thing, the Samuras been together for more than 23 years — since they were teenagers.
“You have to make the bedroom more exciting,” Leah Samura said. “That’s just a given.”
Like other topical cannabis products, Purient Bedroom Cannabis comes with instructions about the recommended dosage and ways to apply the product.
The Samuras expect most people to experience “more of a body high” than the psychoactive high that comes with smoking marijuana, though all marijuana products can affect people differently.
“The first time that you use it, you have a little pep in your step the next day,” Leah Samura said.
Dundas said 612 Studios is also believed to be the first economic empowerment applicant from the state to earn money from the regulated cannabis industry. The company was approved as an economic empowerment applicant in May 2018.
Sira currently has three final licenses from the state for adult-use manufacturing, cultivating, and transporting. Sira leaders are awaiting the “commence operations” notices from the state that will allow the company to distribute the product to any recreational marijuana store that wishes to sell it.
Felicia Gans can be reached at felicia.gans@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @FeliciaGans.
