Welcome Note

Welcome back Gardeners!

The Free Spirits Podcast with David Gonzalez and myself is back for Season 2 and episode 3 dropped last week with Jake Bullock, Founder, of Cann. Coming next week (4/7/2025) we will be releasing our episode with Angus Rittenburg and we might discuss their latest product drop!

So be sure to subscribe and rate/review the show! It really does help us grow!

You can find us on Youtube, Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts!

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter

And as always, my email is open!

-Lars

Any comments or questions? Leave comment on this post or shoot me an email. Would love to hear from you!

News Round Up

Product Moves

Curaleaf dropped a THC energy drink.

Select FormulaX blends caffeine, B12, and hemp-derived THC into one can—positioned as a pre-workout, productivity tool, or whatever “energy + vibes” moment you want to sell it as. Is it smart? TBD.

Wynk joined the 10mg club.

They launched lemonade seltzers this week with 10mg THC per can, after years of leading with microdose formats. They’re not alone, most of the early low-dose brands are now rolling out higher potency SKUs, not to pivot away from social drinking, but because their core customers are building tolerance and don’t want to switch brands.

Cann is now selling gummies.

Cann Canns are on-brand: snackable, social, colorful, and positioned more like a lifestyle candy than a medical product. It’s smart—less because of market share, and more because of how many people associate Cann with beverage only. This is a long-term identity play.

Policy Whiplash

Georgia walked back its ban.

Lawmakers killed the proposed THC beverage ban and instead floated the idea of selling drinks in liquor stores. Say what you want, but this is progress. Regulation beats prohibition every time, even if the rules aren’t perfect yet.

Florida is doing that classic Florida thing.

Lawmakers are proposing tighter hemp drink rules, and no one’s really sure what the outcome will be. Labeling, age gating, potency limits—all fair game. The only thing that seems consistent in Florida’s approach to hemp is chaos.

Alabama’s trying to regulate—finally.

There’s forward motion on creating clearer cannabis laws, but it’s early days. This matters less for operators in-market and more as a case study in how red states are wrestling with pressure from both sides.

Meanwhile, federal prohibition is still screwing research.

New data shows how deeply state-funded cannabis studies are being stalled because of federal scheduling. We all know this. But it’s worth pointing out how these bottlenecks affect everything, from dosage data to public health framing to investor confidence.

Policy Pulse:

We are still stuck in a loop:

→ Bad actors push garbage products

→ Lawmakers react with fear-based legislation

→ Legitimate brands get caught in the crossfire

If you’re building in this space, you’re not anti-regulation. You’re anti-BS.

We need smart guardrails, not panic bans written by people who still think hemp and marijuana are different plants.

Bigger Market Moves

Organigram bought Collective Project.

This was the biggest acquisition of the week. It brings a Canadian LP into the U.S. hemp THC beverage scene in one clean shot. You don’t do this unless you see massive upside, and clearly, they do.

Cannabis drinks are now in Total Wine.

This isn’t exactly news, but Modern Retail covered it: more beverage brands are hitting the shelves of liquor retailers.

Local breweries are leaning in.

Bad Habit Brewing in MN added THC drinks to their menu. This is happening everywhere. Craft brewers are getting squeezed by alcohol sales softening, and hemp drinks are a lifeline, especially in states with semi-clear laws.

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It’s Not Hemp vs Marijuana it’s Cannabis vs Education

The real battle in cannabis beverages isn’t THC vs. alcohol.

It’s education vs. confusion. And most of that confusion? It doesn’t come from consumers. It comes from us & the system we’ve built around the plant.

I was talking to someone recently who was upset they couldn’t find one of OG Low-Dose THC beverages in dispensaries in their state anymore. I let them know the product’s still available, just in a hemp-derived format, online & in Total Wine in their state.

They hit me with the classic: “I don’t consume D9 hemp.”

And that one sentence says so much about where we are as an industry right now.

While there is a knowledge gap, the main problem we have is a trust gap.

Because if you work in this space, you already know:

→ The product didn’t change.

→ The plant didn’t change.

→ Only the regulatory path did.

But for a consumer? The second they hear “hemp,” or “D9” they flinch. Why? Because we’ve allowed years of political fear mongering, inconsistent laws, and bad-faith actors to define the narrative. And now, legitimate operators are the ones paying the price.

This is the hidden tax on working in hemp-derived THC:

→ You spend 80% of your time explaining legality, safety, and sourcing

→ You watch politicians go after hemp with the same rhetoric they used to justify prohibition

→ You compete with synthetics and mystery blends flooding the market while trying to do it right

And on top of that, you’ve got customers who trust the product until they hear the word “hemp.” Then suddenly it’s suspect, even if you’ve got COAs, clean labeling, and real brand equity behind it.

This is the cost of confusion.

And it’s being paid by the operators trying to build responsibly. The irony is, many of these products are doing what the regulated side still struggles with:

→ Beautiful branding

→ Lower dose formats

→ Easier onboarding

→ Faster distribution

But none of it matters if we can’t build trust. And that starts with owning the problem:

There’s a perception problem around hemp. And it’s not going away until we fix the mess at the policy level, and within the industry.

So yeah, hemp isn’t the issue.

Lack of clarity is.

And bad actors, murky supply chains, and opportunistic lawmakers are making it worse. Until we get clarity, this entire category is going to keep operating at a fraction of what it could be. To the founders, marketers, retailers, and policy folks doing it right:

I see you.

You’re fighting for a category that could be so much more than what we’ve been allowed to build. Let’s stop pretending this is a marketing issue.

This is a regulatory and reputation issue.

And it’s on us, on all of us, to get louder about what’s actually holding this space back.