(Keyword, alcohol).
A few months ago, I spoke to a reporter from Quartz about cannabidiol (CBD). She told me that a local cafe was offering a CBD-infused latte and that it piqued her interest for a story. Her local baristas were not alone as numerous bars, restaurants, and cafes across the country have been experimenting with CBD-infused beverages. However, as with all things CBD, the regulatory framework is rapidly changing. If you’re a business owner looking to add a CBD beverage to the menu, it’s important to carefully consider state and local law.
That brings us to California. California is an excellent case study when it comes to CBD. The Golden State has a long history with cannabis, as it was the first state to create an affirmative defense for the medical use of marijuana in 1996. In 2016, California voters approved of recreational marijuana. California has also approved of an industrial hemp pilot program under the 2014 Farm Bill, but the program has been mostly dormant because the state’s laws and regulations make it nearly impossible to legally obtain hemp seeds. In addition, and perhaps most importantly when it comes to CBD, California has a propensity to regulate just about everything under the Sun.
Cue the California Department of Public Health’s (CDPH) infamous FAQs. As we wrote back in July, these FAQs stated that CDPH was banning the inclusion of hemp-derived CBD as a food, food ingredient, food additive, or dietary supplement. California’s Health and Safety Code defines food to include beverages meaning that CBD is not allowed in beverages of any kind. California’s Alcoholic Beverage Control (“ABC”) issued its own FAQs which stated that licensees could not serve alcoholic beverages mixed with cannabis, even if the licensee was using CBD. ABC cited to CDPH’s FAQs to prohibit the use of hemp-derived CBD.
Daniel Shortt is a business attorney who works extensively with entrepreneurs in the cannabis industry. He is an authority on legal issues relating to CBD and hemp laws and he has been invited to speak on those topics at events across the country and overseas. Daniel also assists our clients with their corporate formation, transactional, licensing, regulatory, and litigation needs. Daniel writes for the award-winning Canna Law Blog and he regularly speaks to media outlets who seek him out for his perspective on legal issues in marijuana and hemp.
