I traded booze for THC drinks. But are there hidden risks?
Mark Zuckerberg, a billionaire, has said he avoids substances like caf- feine because he likes “rawdog- ging ” reality. I, on the other hand, do not. I mean, have you seen real- ity lately?
For most of my adult life, alco- hol has been my preferred way to take the edge off. But, like a lot of other people, I got older and real- ized regular drinking was not do- ing me any favours. Last year, I ex- perimented with “intermittent so- briety ”, taking months off here and there. It helped, but it was also easy to slip back into bad habits.
This year, I’ve jumped on the California-sober bandwagon, trad- ing booze for the hemp-derived THC drinks that are rapidly grow- ing in popularity. ( THC stands for tetrahydrocannabinol, which is the psychoactive component of cannabis.) I’ve never had any in- terest in smokable or edible THC in the past - as a green card holder, I reckon I should make that very clear to any immigration offifficers reading. But these new drinks have been a game-changer. The dosage is clearly marked and the effffects are felt almost as quickly as alcohol thanks to a technology called nanoemulsification , which turns the THC into tiny water-sol- uble droplets that are more rapid- ly absorbed by the body than tra- ditional edibles.
Having a 5mg THC seltzer or in- fused cocktail in the evening scratches the “I need to unwind” itch for me with seemingly no short-term negative effffects, like a hangover. While I find THC doesn’t deliver quite the dopamine rush alcohol does, low doses give me a relaxing warm fuzz, and have been great for my anxiety. Most importantly, it’s helped me kick the alcohol habit; I’ve never felt healthier. Apart from the hefty price tag ( one can costs $5-$7), these drinks feel a lit- tle too good to be true. So are they?
The short answer is: sort of. First, their legality is a little … hazy. Marijuana is still a controlled substance under federal law in the US, although some states have le- galized it for recreational and/or medicinal purposes. But under the 2018 Farm Bill, any cannabis plant with less than 0.3% delta- 9 THC by dry weight is considered hemp and is no longer a controlled substance. ( No such loophole ex- ists in the UK, where cannabis is il- legal for recreational use.)
This loophole has birthed a booming market: THC beverages are expected to be a $4bn industry by 2028, according to Euromonitor International . ( Even comedian Seth Rogen has jumped in with his own line of drinks, called House- plant .) Depending on the state, you might find these drinks in gro- cery or liquor stores. Some brands sell online, but while hemp-de- rived THC is federally legal, this is a grey area, and some states have imposed restrictions on products containing it.
Whether birthing a THC prod- uct industry was an intention of the Farm Bill is unclear. “Some in- dependent attorneys argue it was,” says Hilary Bricken, a lawyer who specializes in cannabis. “Others say absolutely not: the bill was meant to promote things like tex- tiles, not consumer-facing drugs. But ultimately, it’s enforcement, or the lack of it, that’s allowed this market to develop the way it has.”
“There’s no federal regulation unless a particular state steps in,” says Bricken. “Some states, like Minnesota, regulate these prod- ucts. Others, like California, have banned them entirely.” ( In Califor- nia, these unregulated hemp-de- rived THC products are banned, but THC products that comply with the state’s cannabis regula- tions can legally be sold at cannabis dispensaries .)
But there are other risks to be aware of. “Practices vary wildly be- tween operators,” says Bricken. “For the consumer, it’s hard to tell what’s actually in the drink. There’s no federal standard, so it’s essentially dealer’s choice on the operator side. While the original hemp might have tested under the 0.3% THC threshold, post-har- vest it can be transformed in ways that technically still comply with federal law. But many believe that most of what’s being sold is syn- thetically derived, and potentially contains toxic compounds.”
Even in a best-case scenario where you’re buying from a re- sponsible operator, THC isn’t as harmless as many believe. A re- cent study led by researchers at the University of California at San Francisco found people who regu- larly used marijuana in either smokable or edible form had re- duced blood vessel function com- parable to tobacco smokers. This is associated with a greater risk of heart attack and other cardiovas- cular issues.
“We saw a 42% reduction in vascular function in marijuana smokers and 56% in THC edible users,” said lead study author Leila Mohammadi . “The effffect was dose-dependent: the more some- one used per week, the worse their vascular function.” Worry- ingly, even relatively small doses of 2.5mg multiple times a week seemed to have a harmful effffect. The study didn’t look at drinkable THC; a single can typically con- tains 2.5-10mg, though some prod- ucts have considerably more. But Mohammadi notes there’s no rea
son to think drinkable products would be signifificantly difffferent.
THC can also affffect cognitive function, especially in adoles- cents, whose endocannabinoid systems - which interact with cannabinoids like THC and regu- late critical bodily functions - are still developing. The long-term ef- fects are complex, and research is ongoing, but one clearly docu- mented risk of THC use in adoles- cence is in how the body handles fat, says Daniele Piomelli, a neuro- scientist and leading cannabis re- searcher at the University of Cali- fornia at Irvine.
“In adolescents who use cannabis heavily, the fat in their bodies becomes dysfunctional. Normally, during times of stress or intense cognitive effffort, the brain uses glucose for energy but can al- so tap into energy derived from fat. But frequent cannabis users often lose that ability,” notes Pi- omelli. That means they might find concentrating more diffifficult.
“There’s a large body of evi- dence suggesting a link - not nec- essarily causation, but a strong as- sociation - between cannabis use in adolescence and increased risk of psychosis,” says Piomelli. And while these drinks are only sup- posed to be consumed by people over 21, adolescence for men is longer than women and “really continues until 25 or 26”.
Even if you’re an old crone like me, there are risks. A low-dosage THC drink now and again proba- bly won’t do much harm, but it’s easy to accidentally go overboard. “The real problem is that, like many things in the US, we don’t do moderation well,” says Piomelli.
“Some of these seltzers now con- tain up to 100mg of THC. That’s enough to send even an experi- enced user to the hospital if they’re not expecting it. Not be- cause THC is deadly - you can’t overdose fatally on THC, even if you tried. But the experience can be incredibly unpleasant and dis- orienting, and recovery might take a couple of days.”
It doesn’t help that the catego- ry is bringing in lots of inexperi- enced THC users, and dosage guidelines and risks often aren’t made particularly clear. In states like New Jersey, you can find THC- infused beverages containing 25mg of THC ( not a negligible amount!) in the grocery store, stocked next to seltzers and ener- gy drinks. You can very easily imagine a scenario where some- one downs one of these without knowing exactly what they’re get- ting themselves into.
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If you are intrigued by these beverages, experts say education and a slow start are critical. Start with 2.5mg or less and work your way up incrementally. While it’s hard to generalize about effffects, Piomelli notes that “for a person in their 20s to 40s, weighing any- where from 50-80kg (110-175lbs), 10-20mg of THC per serving would be enough to produce a noticeable buzz - defifinitely not enough to cause a full-blown high for some- one who isn’t a regular user.”
“I always say: know before you go,” says Harvard neuroscientist Staci Gruber, who directs the long- est-running study of medical cannabis use in the United States. “What’s your goal? Are you look
ing for mild relaxation or trying to manage chronic pain? Your inten- tion should guide your choice of product.”
Many of these THC drinks also include CBD, which is one of the main non-intoxicating compo- nents of cannabis, and alters the experience. “Some research sug- gests CBD can mitigate some of THC’s negative effffects, like anxi- ety or paranoia,” Gruber explains. No matter the ratio, the dose of THC is what’s really important. “THC at low doses is often anxi- olytic: it can reduce anxiety and make people feel more relaxed,” says Gruber. “But at higher doses, it becomes anxiogenic - it can ac- tually cause anxiety. The problem is, what counts as a ‘ low dose’ varies widely from person to per- son.”
THC may have its risks but, just asking for a friend: is going Califor- nia-sober still healthier than drinking alcohol? After all, alcohol heightens the risks of at least sev- en types of cancer and the World Health Organization has said no level of consumption is safe.
Unfortunately, scientists don’t give black-and-white statements that affiffirm your life choices; they qualify things. And the answer to whether going California-sober is a harm-reduction strategy is: it de- pends.
“It really depends on the per- son,” says Ziva Cooper, director of the University of California at Los Angeles Center for Cannabis and Cannabinoids. Factors like some- one’s age, individual vulnerability
what they’re doing while in
toxicated can influence the ef- fects, as can frequency and dose of ingestion. “Some people may have a family history of psychosis or mood disorders,” says Cooper. “Others may be using very high doses regularly.” But there are risks either way: “Some are associ- ated with frequent use, and others with being a novice user. One un- expected risk we’re now seeing is cannabinoid hyperemesis syn- drome - basically, heavy users pre- senting to the ER with severe nau- sea and vomiting. That was com- pletely off the radar a few years ago.”
Cooper notes that scientifific re- search is still lagging behind the market. “We need better data, more funding and more research, especially because half the adult population is using cannabis products in some form now,” she says.
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Many THC startups, and their new users, are on a high, but they might be headed for a comedown. “A lot of these hemp companies are acting like they’re too big to fail, like they can’t be touched,” says Bricken. “Maybe that’ll end up being true. But right now, no- body really knows how it will play out.” Hemp-derived THC is receiv- ing a lot more scrutiny, and in- creased regulation - even possible prohibition - is on the horizon.
Last month, a key US House committee approved a spending bill , championed by the represen- tative Andy Harris, a long-term prohibitionist, that walks back the legal defifinition of hemp. The bill still has to pass the House and Senate. But if it does get signed in- to law, the loophole these hemp- derived THC drink companies rely on will close, and they will have to stop operating in their current form.
Separately, Congress generally renews the Farm Bill, a mammoth piece of legislation that funds ma- jor agriculture and food programs in the US, every five years. The current bill, which contains the hemp loophole, expired in Octo- ber 2023 and Congress has since passed two one-year extensions.
While they could potentially ex- tend for another year, there’s a strong possibility that a new ver- sion will be debated later this year. When this happens, Bricken thinks, we’ll see the hemp-derived THC loophole either get closed or distilled into some kind of regula- tory framework.
“Hemp companies are scram- bling to gain ground before any- thing changes,” notes Bricken. “They’re surprisingly well-orga- nized from a lobbying perspective, and some factions in the alcohol industry support them. But prohi- bitionist groups are also lobbying hard.”
Xander Shepherd, co-founder of THC aperitif brand Artet ( his 86-year-old grandmother’s art adorns the bottles), says that flux in this sector is nothing new: “I’ve almost become numb to the con- stant changes, whether it’s the Farm Bill or state-level regula- tions. I try to remind myself it’s kind of like two steps forward, one step back. But overall, I really be- lieve the industry is moving in the right direction.”
While all of this is playing out, I’m going to continue sipping legal THC drinks - albeit with a little more caution than before. Going California-sober is clearly not the healthiest choice in the world but, speaking from a purely personal level, the highs currently out- weigh the lows.