The summer of 2021 could have been the first big season of cannabis-infused beverages if people could only have grabbed a six-pack from stores, says one eastern Ontario seller.
Brad Stewart, co-founder of Molecule, a business based in Lansdowne, Ont., says people in the industry have been left scratching their heads by the way Health Canada calculates the amount of marijuana in an infused drink.
Using Health Canada’s calculations, a 355 ml drink is considered to have the equivalent of slightly more than five grams of cannabis, even though one beverage can only contain a maximum of 10 mg of THC, the psychoactive chemical in the marijuana plant.
And because Canadians can also only carry 30 grams of cannabis out of a store, it’s illegal to sell more than five 350 ml drinks at a time — frustratingly shy, Stewart said, of the six-pack many consumers are accustomed to buying.
“The [regulations] almost seem like a mistake,” he said.
“For anyone specifically focused only on cannabis beverages, it’s particularly challenging.”
Stewart says Health Canada’s calculations are unfair because they only take into account the total volume of a drink, regardless of how much THC was used in its production.
The Cannabis Council of Canada, which has launched a campaign…
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The summer of 2021 could have been the first big season of cannabis-infused beverages if people could only have grabbed a six-pack from stores, says one eastern Ontario seller.
Brad Stewart, co-founder of Molecule, a business based in Lansdowne, Ont., says people in the industry have been left scratching their heads by the way Health Canada calculates the amount of marijuana in an infused drink.
Using Health Canada’s calculations, a 355 ml drink is considered to have the equivalent of slightly more than five grams of cannabis, even though one beverage can only contain a maximum of 10 mg of THC, the psychoactive chemical in the marijuana plant.
And because Canadians can also only carry 30 grams of cannabis out of a store, it’s illegal to sell more than five 350 ml drinks at a time — frustratingly shy, Stewart said, of the six-pack many consumers are accustomed to buying.
“The [regulations] almost seem like a mistake,” he said.
“For anyone specifically focused only on cannabis beverages, it’s particularly challenging.”
Stewart says Health Canada’s calculations are unfair because they only take into account the total volume of a drink, regardless of how much THC was used in its production.
The Cannabis Council of Canada, which has launched a campaign…