Rapper/entertainer Snoop Dogg, in collaboration with Death Row Records and his beverage company Iconic Tonics, this week announced the expansion of his hemp-infused beverage lines, “Do It Fluid” and “Doggy Spritz,” into New Jersey, Georgia, and Tennessee as the industry confronts confusing rules and regulations and skeptics about the sector’s prospects.
The companies are targeting these markets because they say they’ve helped shape American music and pop culture, as well as innovation in entertainment.
“Expanding into New Jersey, Georgia, and Tennessee allows us to tap into mature hemp markets with deep cultural roots,” said Iconic Tonics CEO Evan Eneman. “These states have shaped music and lifestyle.”
Iconic Tonics has partnered with regional beverage distributors Allied Beverage Group in New Jersey, Savannah Distributing Company in Georgia, and Best Brands Inc. in Tennessee.
Hemp-derived THC (psychoactive compound tetrahydrocannabinol) drinks are the most widely available type of THC-infused beverage in the United States. They contain Delta-9 THC that has been extracted from legally cultivated hemp plants. The total Delta-9 THC concentration in the final product cannot exceed the 0.3% dry weight limit.
This allows products to be sold in states that have not explicitly banned them, often through online retailers, smoke shops, and some mainstream stores. These beverages can be found in seltzers, sodas, waters, teas, and coffees, whose THC dosages range from 2.5mg to 10mg per serving.
Iconic Tonics hemp-infused beverage rollout in the three states comes as industry watchers of cannabis beverages have doubts that the sector’s performance can ever match the optimism of the beverage makers.
A Business Insider story said Brightfield Group, a market research firm that follows the cannabis industry, estimates that sales of hemp-derived THC beverages will reach $571 million this year and grow another 33% to $756 million by 2029. Even if growth matches those forecasts, the hemp-infused category is dwarfed by the U.S. beer market, which tallied $117 billion in sales last year.
It’s not clear who the target market is for these hemp-infused beverages, whether imbibers of alcohol would switch to hemp-infused beverages. This may cause problems in marketing the product. There also have been complaints of the off-putting taste of some of these beverages.
The biggest challenge hemp-infused beverages face is the crazy-quit rules and regulations that vary from state to state – where beverages can be sold, what dosages they can contain, and whether they can be sold at all.
In New Jersey, hemp-derived THC drinks are legal and marijuana-infused THC beverages are allowed for medical use only. New Jersey law places intoxicating hemp drinks under the Cannabis Regulatory Commission and they can be sold only in licensed dispensaries to those over 21 years old.
