To gauge the state of the corporate marijuana business, tour the exhibition floor at the annual Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference at the Diplomat Beach Resort in Hollywood. “Where Deals Get Done!” read a Benzinga sign at the April event as more than 200 investors and 2,000 people tried to do just that.
It’s a typical trade show with some booths staffed by the bored silly and others alive with entrepreneur zeal. It diverged from usual shows in the crowd — plenty of businesspeople in suits but also a few who looked like they would be more at home in a head shop. And then there was the young woman in knee-high boots and a jacket emblazoned with a marijuana flower. Attendees passed booths for “Blazing Susan” smoking supplies or offerings from “Her Highness — Weed for Womankind.” The state of Maryland’s marijuana program was there, handing out koozies and tote bags, as was exhibitor Lophos — “pioneering new paths in psychedelic health and wellness.” Ready to answer questions were people from cannabis-friendly banks, packaging businesses, cultivation facility design firms, companies that specialize in ATMs for pot stores or microbial control for the marijuana plants. One company had a cooler stocked with its THC-infused ice pops. The display for Cheech & Chong’s seltzers had signage akin to the “Eat Mor Chiken” scrawl familiar to Chick-fil-A customers — except these said, “Drink More THC.”
Guzzling more THC was a theme. Tables had displays of THC beverages: “Howdy THC from Texas — Ain’t No Alcohol” or “Squared Gin & Tonic Non Alcoholic Cocktail 5 MG - Hemp D9 THC.”
An entire panel discussion at Benzinga focused on the breakout potential of THC drinks. Smoking pot in many public places, hotel rooms and apartments, even in legalized states, often is prohibited by law or lease. Lounges where people can smoke have proved problematic from a regulatory approval and economic viability standpoint.
To the rescue: Beverages infused with THC, the psychoactive ingredient that provides a high. The intoxicants can be consumed without weed smell and smoke bothering the general public. The industry wants to get their beverages in bars, restaurants, arenas, hotels and anywhere booze is consumed. It also, the industry people at Benzinga said, will expand the market, encouraging THC consumption by people intimidated by smoking or unfamiliar store products. People are accustomed to socializing with a drink in hand. Getting “mainstream consumers into a format they’re accustomed to is highly, highly important,” one industry speaker said. “I’m not going to be able to talk my mom into rolling a joint but I can talk my mom into having a beverage.”
Industry representatives say THC beverages have been outselling alcohol at some establishments. A Nashville eatery, one speaker noted, has THC-infused mayonnaise as a sauce.