a day ago
These THC-infused drinks face little oversight in the US. Maine is scrambling to regulate sales.
Jun. 14—Three years ago, Mercedes Lamphere was selling drinks infused with THC from the back of her truck. Today, those intoxicating, yet alcohol-free beverages can be found in 850 locations across 10 states.
Lamphere's company, the Farmington-based Long Coast, is part of a rapidly expanding market of drinks containing low doses of the psychoactive compound that gets cannabis users high. Except the compound in these drinks, called delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), comes from a weaker form of the plant known as hemp.
Marketed in fun, fruity, cocktail-inspired flavors, the drinks are popping up in convenience store coolers and on menus in breweries and bars.
These fully legal, barely regulated beverages are permitted by a loophole in the 2018 U.S. Farm Bill that classified hemp as any cannabis plant containing less than 0.3% delta-9 THC by dried weight — and legalized cultivating and selling it. Anything over 0.3% is considered marijuana, which is still federally illegal.
That loophole gave companies more than enough wiggle room to get creative.
"The customer wants what it wants and will find a way to get it," said Eben Sumner, CEO of Casco Bay Hemp. "Show me when prohibition has ever worked in history."
CNN reported that the U.S. market for hemp-derived THC drinks amounted to about $400,000 in 2020, according to a report from Brightfield Group, a market research firm. By 2024, that increased to $382 million. It's expected to grow to $571 million this year.
But the quickly growing market has some cannabis business owners crying foul. They say shops and breweries are selling, essentially, the same product they are — yet dealing with none of the red tape. Meanwhile, recreational cannabis retailers face high taxes and costly requirements to track and test the products for contaminants. They are also not allowed to let customers consume the marijuana on-site.
But the drinks present an additional revenue stream, if not a possible lifeline, to the struggling brewing industry. They also make the THC-induced high more accessible for people who may not feel comfortable going into a cannabis store.
In the absence of clearly defined rules, many businesses have been imposing their own restrictions on the drinks.
Across the board, businesses interviewed instituted a 21-plus age-gate on the beverages. Long Coast and Mystic Cove, a brand from Sebago Brewing Company, include certificates of analysis, or batch test results, on their websites. At Bow Street Beverage, the drinks are kept in their own cooler, separate from alcoholic beverages, with clear signs saying that the drinks contain THC.
At Three Dollar Deweys in Portland and Saltwater Grille in South Portland, customers are limited to two drinks and cannot mix them with alcohol, according to owner Jill Moses.
"We're happy to work with people on regulation, but as of now there's none," said Peter Bissell, co-owner of Bissell Brothers Brewing.
CLOSING THE LOOPHOLE
Federal officials are working to close the so-called hemp loophole. The "Fiscal Year 2026 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Bill" would ban hemp-derived THC products outright at the federal level.
In the meantime, Maine is among several states scrambling to institute regulations to get a handle on the industry before it grows further. States like Minnesota and Massachusetts have passed laws clarifying that hemp-derived THC is legal for anyone over the age of 21. Texas, meanwhile, just passed a blanket THC ban, though it's unclear if the governor will sign off on it.
In Maine, the Committee on Taxation and the Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee carried over two bills, one to impose a 20% tax on hemp and hemp products containing THC while lowering taxes for the recreational cannabis industry and another — proposed by the governor's office — to move intoxicating-hemp regulations under the Office of Cannabis Policy.
In the meantime, lawmakers this week passed an emergency bill to limit the sale of these products to people at least 21 years old, and to require they be sold in child-proof packaging that could not be confused with another non-intoxicating brand.
Because the bill has an emergency clause, it will go into effect immediately.
The bill received broad support from the hospitality industry and public health advocates alike.
Nate Cloutier, director of government affairs for Hospitality Maine, the industry trade association, said THC-infused beverages have become part of the food and beverage landscape and that a 21-year-old age gate makes sense.
"We understand this won't be the right fit for every restaurant," he said in written testimony. "But for some, it's a welcome opportunity. In an industry with average margins of 2-5%, being able to offer a unique product that aligns with customer interest is a meaningful way to increase traffic and support the bottom line."
But others, including some in the cannabis industry, argued that the bill doesn't go far enough.
"In recent years, Maine and other states have been increasingly inundated with (intoxicating hemp-derived products) that are unregulated, untested, untracked and easily accessible by minors," said Gabi Pierce, policy director of the Office of Cannabis Policy. "These products have become widely available at non-cannabis retailers and marketed for their intoxicating THC properties, yet they lack all the safeguards in place for similar adult use cannabis products."
Pierce said age and labeling requirements are "not enough to address the real public health and safety threat" in front of them and urged the committee to reject the bill in favor of the one proposed by the governor's office.
Mark Gallagher, representing the Cannabis Association of Maine, suggested a moratorium on the sale of hemp-derived THC-infused products while the Legislature works to develop regulations, which he argued should mirror those for the cannabis industry, as the two products are nearly identical.
It's this point that rankles Kaspar Heinrici, CEO of SeaWeed, a recreational store with locations in South Portland and Portland.
"They've created this arbitrary definition of hemp, but it's all the cannabis plant," he said. He stopped short of saying which department should regulate the industry, but that there needs to be consistency.
"Otherwise you end up with two markets for the same product with very different rules," he said. And if that happens, "there'll be no reason for us to exist."
'NONSENSE' REGULATIONS
Sumner, who worked on the legislation, said the bill was never meant to be the be-all-end-all for hemp regulations.
"It made sense to us to get that out quickly to protect kids from buying this stuff and protect the people that are selling it," he said. The bill was also kept bare-bones to keep it from requiring a fiscal note, which in a tight budget season, could have killed it.
Sumner agreed that there needs to be stronger regulations on hemp, but said the Office of Cannabis Policy currently has too much on its plate to regulate cannabis effectively, let alone hemp. The office is also trying to institute stronger rules, including mandatory testing and seed-to-sale tracking, for the medical cannabis market.
Mark Barnett, policy director for the Maine Craft Cannabis Association, said the evolving policy environment presents an opportunity for the industry to have a conversation about how cannabis is regulated.
"Legal intoxicating hemp has shown us that our legal (recreational) marijuana is nonsense," he said. "The lesson we need to take is that the heavy regulation is wrong and that the overbearing system we have makes no sense. ... We've seen what it looks like to have no regulations and still not have one single (documented) case of someone dying from these products."
Barnett is also the owner of Higher Grounds, a recreational cannabis store and coffee shop in Portland where customers can opt to add an infusion of hemp-derived THC or CBD to their coffee. He has a foot in both markets and believes there's room for both.
"The value to me is that the highly regulated programs do offer, by and large ... far higher quality products. You're allowed to use the whole plant, (so it) doesn't have the same limitations of dry weight at harvest that hemp does."
MOVING AWAY FROM ALCOHOL
Beverage producers are also leery of the program being moved under the Office of Cannabis Policy. For many, especially the brewers, it would mean shuttering the whole enterprise — in Maine statute, alcohol and cannabis operations can't mix. Instead, they argue the drinks should be regulated under the Bureau of Alcoholic Beverages and Lottery Operations.
"The fear is we'll be legislated so we can't be doing this anymore," said Kai Adams, co-founder of Sebago Brewing Company. "It should be taxed like beer if it's a drink."
Sebago in February launched Mystic Cove, its own brand of hemp-derived THC-infused seltzers, with flavors like blueberry lemon drop and mango sunrise.
The Gorham-based brewery started exploring THC beverages after requests from customers and the need to diversify.
"I'm a beer guy, I've been a beer guy for 30 years," Adams said. "(But) it's a changing market."
For the first time since 2005, the Brewers Association this year found that the number of craft brewery closings nationwide outpaced openings.
The percentage of Americans who regularly consume beer, liquor or wine dropped from 67% in 2022 to 58% in 2024, according to a Gallup Survey. Young adults ages 18-34 are the cohort that most embraces the "sober-curious" movement and when they do drink, there's an emphasis on lower-calorie, fruitier options.
For some breweries, that has meant expanding their lineups to include more seltzers, canned cocktails and nonalcoholic options — including those with THC.
Bissell Brothers released its version, Bissell Buds, May 30. The drink has a light, citrusy hoppy flavor, Peter Bissell said. The release followed hard seltzers and teas, all of which had been in development for the better part of a year.
"It was time to diversify. We needed to broaden our horizons," he said.
So far, the numbers have been strong.
Right now, many companies are still in the trial phase, but Adams expects a "deluge" of brands, especially coming from breweries as more people are embracing cannabis use. A 2024 study found that more Americans report daily cannabis use than daily drinking.
Cameron Graham, marketing and events coordinator for Bow Street Beverage, said the drinks have been particularly popular among baby boomers, many of whom are "ecstatic" and buy them "by the case." Between the Portland and Wells locations, the store offers more than 30 brands and flavors of THC-infused drinks.
"I see lots of older folks and people who have historically been a little uncomfortable with marijuana in general," he said. "I find that they don't want to be going into specialty stores like dispensaries."
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