The American Trade Association for Cannabis and Hemp announced last week the formation of the Cannabis Beverage Council, a new industry group that will seek to support U.S. brands in both regulatory and market initiatives.
The new council will work to support both THC, CBD and other cannabinoid-infused beverage brands by establishing industry quality standards and advocating for legal and regulatory goals. The council includes ATACH President Michael Bronstein as well as nearly a dozen other cannabis beverage leaders.
Founding members of the Cannabis Beverage Council include Canopy Growth CEO David Klein; ABV Cannabis Co. founder Adolphus Busch V; SeroVito Holding Corp. director Scott Coors; Organigram VP of legal and regulatory affairs Christy Zhou; Keef Brands CEO Erik Knutson; Cannacraft president of new markets Bill Silver; BellRock Brands CEO Chuck Smith; Columbia Distributing VP of business development Koji Pupo; Acreage Holdings director of legal compliance Gary Kaminsky; CANN co-founder Jake Bullock and Rebel Coast CEO Josh Lizotte. Additional members will be announced in the near future.
“The consumer is starting to recognize the product and what we need to do now is help create the marketplace opportunities to develop beverage, to develop the regulation around it, to be able to create policy that will allow businesses to grow and meet the demand of this category, which has broad-based consumer appeal,” Bronstein said.
A key goal of the council, he added, will be to ensure that beverages are in conversation around legalization and regulatory discussions and that future legislation is drafted with the beverage market in mind. Given the current market-by-market nature of cannabis regulations, the council will also allow the industry to better guide current regulations across state lines.
Chuck Smith noted that going forward, industry standardization will be necessary for cannabis beverage brands to grow. One of the council’s goals is to help create a foundation of standardized rules which will breed confidence in consumers, regulators and legislators which will eventually translate into category-wide growth.
Bronstein said the council’s target should be exploring potential answers to key questions facing the industry at large.
“How should this market segment develop? What are the barriers that we need to deal with? How do we expand to account for consumer demand? How do we deal with public health and safety and consumer protection, and some of the regulations that go along with that?,” he asked. “I think having those discussions at one table is going to be extremely beneficial for the segment as a whole.”
In addition to regulations, the council will also explore consumer education campaigns to grow awareness around cannabis beverages, Bronstein said. Smith noted that some campaigns may focus on erasing stigma around cannabis consumption and dispelling myths that the industry is “irresponsible” or poorly regulated.
The council will also turn to the industry itself to work with brands and retailers to grow the cannabis beverage category. Although cannabis has been a highly buzzed about emerging sector in the beverage industry, the category still has a long runway for growth and continues to face hurdles in the marketplace, including challenges in distribution, merchandising and consumer adoption. Last year, THC-infused beverages had a market value of $313 million, but only accounted for a fraction of the overall $19 billion cannabis market, market research firm Brightfield Group reported.
“We believe that the ATACH beverage counsel can act as the tip of the spear to opening up this market,” Bronstein said. “We firmly believe that given the opportunity, given the demand, given the businesses that are involved in investing in the space, that there is a real opportunity here to be able to push this market forward in a responsible way.”