Hemp beverages may not be the novelty they were five years ago, but the industry is still going through some growing pains. Against the backdrop of a maturing marketplace, The Hemp Beverage Alliance (HBA) officially formed this month with around 60 members to begin advocating for standardized products and best practices for producers up and down the supply chain.
Creating cohesion between products sold across state lines is the only way to grow and support the industry, as well as cultivate consumer confidence, according to HBA executive director Chris Lackner. He explained that the HBA wants to distance the industry from some of the “fly by night” THC brews on the market and support the creation of a regulatory framework that can help build out the industry and eliminate some of the confusion around production and labeling.
“The biggest challenge that we have is there’s still a regulatory gray area, state by state… that creates confusion – that doesn’t help anybody,” said Lackner, who also previously co-founded low-dose, hemp-infused mocktail brand jeng. “Our goal is to work with states and brands to come up with a unified framework so that a hemp-derived THC beverage purchased in New Jersey… [gives consumers] the same experience as one purchased in Nevada.”
Key issues like age limits and per-product dosing are central to the HBA’s platform. The group is advocating for a maximum 10mg THC limit on hemp-derived THC beverages, sold to 21+ consumers. For CBD brews, HBA argues that a serving size of 30 mg or less of CBD is appropriate and should only be sold to consumers over 18 years old.
The group is also backing a variety of labeling requirements including indicating cannabinoid levels on the front panel, icons noting age-restrictions for both hemp-derived THC and CBD products, a URL or QR code link to a certified lab analysis and a disclaimer that these products are not regulated by the FDA, among other icons and disclaimers intended to educate and protect consumers.
As for delineating between the types of cannabinoids, like Delta-8 or Delta-9 THC, Lackner said the HBA does not believe producers need to call out these individual components. He argued that the end consumer, at this stage in the game, isn’t as informed about the variability between the substances and would rather focus efforts on growing awareness about their psychoactive effects, help inform responsible consumption habits and – by supporting standardized production – hopefully eliminate some of the myths and misperceptions around various cannabinoids.
Discussions around those issues helped spark the group’s creation: Lackner began consulting other members of the industry and formed an initial cohort to exchange thoughts around best practices. The idea of evolving the group into a trade organization took hold once Lackner was working to get jeng up and running and began to hear that brands and operators up and down his emerging brand’s supply chain were facing similar challenges.
“People heard about [the group] one way or another and then it started growing to a point where all of a sudden, we’re getting dozens of inquiries,” he explained. “What started out as an informal group quickly formed into a trade group because of the demand and the interest by the beverage makers in the space.”
HBA’s membership include David Knight, CEO of Jones Soda, which owns Mary Jones cannabis and hemp beverages; Paige Endsly, R&D lead at Living Juice, producers of a beverage line under the name Living Hemp; Douglas Fulton, partner and co-CEO of Emergent Beverage Partners, a full-service hemp-derived beverage co-packer; and Jason Dayton, co-founder of Minnesota-based hemp-derived THC-infused beverage brand Trail Magic.
Lackner himself has plenty of experience with this type of work; he’s also currently the president of Lackner/Andrew, a “full service public affairs firm” that serves all types of organizations and enterprises ranging from startups to international non profits. He also recently served as the VP of public affairs for Mile High Labs, one of the largest CBD isolate extraction companies, where he worked as a lobbyist, orchestrated community relations and handled crisis management situations.
The HBA now boasts upward of 60 member organizations spanning brands, co-packers, cannabinoid producers, testing laboratories, manufacturing facilities and consulting agencies.
“All of them are interested in creating an industry that is well regulated, transparent, safe for consumers and sustainable over the long haul,” Lackner said.
That long haul entails a future where both the hemp and cannabis industries have the ability to support one another’s growth. Similar to the alcohol model – where lower-strength products like beer and wine are available in retail outlets like grocery and convenience stores and liquor is most often sold through regulated, specialized channels – Lackner doesn’t see why hemp derived-THC and cannabis products should be any different.
He cited the developments in Minnesota’s hemp-derived THC beverage scene over the past year as proof that not only could that model work, but also can help capture the opportunity the industry believes already exists. In the Twin Cities state, he claims “demand is just incredible” and the beverages are on display everywhere from on-premise bars and restaurants to grocery and corner stores.
In addition to alienating a broad swath of consumers by only selling hemp-derived THC beverages through the dispensary channel, Lackner said the products just aren’t designed to perform well in that space as they end up being one-off purchases for more experienced cannabis consumers. That is why the HBA has entered conversations with beer distributors and is working to educate them on the federal legality of these products as well as the significant opportunity in states with common sense-type laws
“That’s the most important thing that we’re doing… [we are helping] the distributors start to see that there is an opportunity here, and the beverages are a unique form of cannabis that don’t do well in dispensaries,” said Lackner. “We think that once they start getting involved, the market is going to get more comfortable with it, retailers will get more comfortable with it and then what we hope to see is a more ubiquitous profile of these beverages in grocery stores and other retailers.”