Cannabis drinks are becoming more popular. Here’s why.
"MINNEAPOLIS — During Dry January, Sarah Graham swapped alcohol for cans of cannabis, an alternative with what she calls “extra oomph.”
“It’s nice when you’re going out with friends to have something more exciting than a soda water or lemonade,” said Graham, 41, a photographer in Brooklyn. “You can have the same effects without getting the negative side effects, and I really, really hate hangovers.”
Graham is not alone. Demand was high in January, some of the companies producing, selling or distributing these hemp-derived beverages said.
But a can of cannabis isn’t analogous to a glass of beer or wine, experts said. And the same amount of cannabis can affect two people differently.
“There could be risks that we just haven’t discovered yet, in part, because we haven’t done much pharmacological studies,” said Eric Leas, an assistant professor at the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health at the University of California at San Diego.
What is a cannabis beverage?
In certain parts of the United States, seltzers and sodas can include a dose of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the cannabis compound known for producing thepsychoactive high.
A cannabis plant contains varying concentrations of different compounds, including delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (or THC). Cannabis is considered hemp when the plant has less than 0.3 percent of delta-9 THC. Cannabis with higher levels of delta-9 THC is classified as marijuana.
The delta-9 THC in cannabis beverages is often derived from hemp because, under federal law, the crop is legal to produce, said Staci Gruber, director of the Marijuana Investigations for Neuroscientific Discovery program at McLean Hospital in Massachusetts. Hemp isn’t supposed to get someone high, but some companies said their hemp-derived beverages can provide a relaxing buzz.
THC amounts in these beverages depend on the brand and a state’s regulations of cannabis. THC-infused drinks often list 1 to 10 milligrams of the cannabis compound per container. And some companies say on their websites that their beverages contain less than 0.3 percent of delta-9 THC derived from hemp.
The THC drinks are available in restaurants, taprooms, liquor stores and online in some states. Total Wine sells the beverages. And DoorDash delivers the hemp-derived drinks.
Why are cannabis beverages popular?
Brightfield Group, a market research firm that reports on the cannabis industry, estimated that hemp-derived cannabis beverages brought in $382 million in sales last year and U.S. sales will grow to nearly $750 million by 2029.
Cann, a THC-infused beverage brand, said its online sales for the first 21 days of January were up 96 percent compared with the same period last year. Sales were high in December and November, too, said Jake Bullock, co-founder and chief executive of Cann.
The growth in demand is, in part, because THC you can drink is a novelty for the adult beverage market, Bullock said.
Jon Halper, the owner of Top Ten Liquors, which has 15 stores around the Twin Cities, said hemp-derived cannabis beverages and edibles made up more than 10 percent of the company’s revenue last year, outselling bourbon and vodka.
Parents ages 35 to 55 make up “a disproportionate amount” of customers buying the cannabis beverages at Top Ten Liquors stores, based on demographic data his company collects, Halper said.
“It’s the soccer mom,” Halper said. “It’s not that they’re anti-alcohol. But they like that they can have this, they get a buzz from it, and they don’t wake up the next day with a headache.”
A dose of THC in a can puts cannabis in a format many people are more open to trying, said Ryan Petz, chief executive and co-founder of Fulton Brewing in Minneapolis, which also sells a brand of THC seltzers.
“There’s only so many people who are going to sit around and smoke a joint or a bowl,” Petz said. Many more people are interested in sharing drinks, including cannabis beverages, “as part of a social experience,” he said.
How do you get THC in a can?
One form of purified THC is a sticky, amber wax, said Harold Han, chief science officer at Vertosa, a cannabis ingredient company based in Berkeley, California. If you were to add that form of THC, as is, to a can of water, the THC would float to the top, he said.
Companies such as Vertosa emulsify the THC so it can be mixed into a variety of drinks, from lemon seltzers and grape sodas to even your morning coffee.
“You can put it in just about everything,” said Kyle Marinkovich, chief executive of Northern Diversified Solutions, a cannabis processor and emulsion company in Minnesota.
Where is it legal to drink hemp-derived beverages?
The 2018 farm bill, which Congress passed with bipartisan support, removed hemp from the Controlled Substances Act. Now, a patchwork of state laws dictate whether and where it’s legal to sell these hemp-derived beverages.
“Right now, the Midwest and the Southeast are the states that are dominating expressly allowing this category,” said Michelle Bodian, a hemp and cannabis regulatory attorney at Vicente, who’s outside general counsel for the Hemp Beverage Alliance, the trade association for the industry.
State regulations are complicated by products made from delta-8 THC, another cannabis compound that can be synthesized from hemp and produces a high. The FDA has warnedthat the manufacturing of delta-8 THC products may involve the use of “potentially harmful chemicals,” and some states have moved to regulate delta-8 THC.
Marijuana remains illegal at the federal level, even though it is legal for recreational use in 24 states; the Trump administration has signaled support for a Biden Justice Department proposal to loosen federal restrictions on marijuana.
How do THC drinks compare to alcohol?
We metabolize alcohol and THC in “drastically different” ways, Han said.
“People assume that cannabis edibles are just like alcohol, where if they have a meal, it’s going to result in lower effects,” said Tory Spindle, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins University. “It’s actually the exact opposite.”
A fat-rich meal may increase the absorption of THC, leading to a stronger effect from the same dose, experts said.
There is no one-to-one comparison between the amount of alcohol, or alcohol by volume, in a beer or wine and the milligrams of a cannabinoid in a beverage, experts said.
How does it compare to smoking cannabis or edibles?
Smoking or vaping marijuana remains the fastest way — seconds to minutes — to feel cannabis effects, experts said. But compared with the typical cannabis edible, researchers said they expect cannabis drinks to take effect faster, given that the THC in these beverages are tiny particles floating in water.
At the Fulton Taproom in downtown Minneapolis, cans of blood orange lemonade and triple berry THC seltzers sit in a fridge next to tap lines for Fulton’s dark stouts and hazy ales. A four-pack of the seltzers costs $15.99 or $17.99, depending on the amount of THC.
Justin Janicki, 44, a beertender at Fulton, said he tells patrons it usually takes about 15 minutes for someone to start to feel the effects of the brewery’s seltzers. He tells first-timers to start with a half glass of a five-milligram seltzer.
Spindle said, “for some individuals, five milligrams is pretty strong.”
“People’s ‘sweet spots’ are all different sizes, and it’s very hard to know where yours is unless you’re a regular cannabis consumer,” said Adie Rae, an assistant scientist at the Legacy Research Institute in Portland, Oregon, who’s also a scientific adviser for Doctors for Drug Policy Reform.
Is a THC beverage a safe option?
“People look at cannabis as a safer alternative to so many different conventional products,” Gruber said. “There are many ways that may be true, and in many other ways, that doesn’t mean they’re benign.”
Some studies show cannabis can help treat nausea caused by chemotherapy or help relieve chronic pain. But clinical research has found cannabis could have a negative effect on the developing adolescent brain.
A recent review of the research on cannabis beverages found only six studies on the short-term effects of the drinks, and four of the studies were from more than 25 years ago, said Iris Balodis, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral neurosciences at McMaster University and senior author of the review.
“We know very little. Everything from physiological effects to cognitive effects, too,” Balodis said.
The “high” people often seek when using THC can also affect a person’s ability to drive by delaying their reaction time and changing their sense of perception, said Ashley Brooks-Russell, an associate professor at the Colorado School of Public Health. Companies are trying to develop a breath test for cannabis impairment, but it’s more complicated than measuring blood alcohol level, she said.
“If people feel the effects of cannabis in those ways, they’re going to be less safe to drive,” Brooks-Russell said. And if you’re not sure how a certain dose of THC could affect you, “you should be a lot more cautious.”
David Ovalle contributed to this report.
correction
A previous version of this article incorrectly spelled the last name of Michelle Bodian, a hemp and cannabis regulatory attorney. The article has been corrected."
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