Oregon bans cannabis-infused alcoholic beverages

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Oregon is renowned for its craft beer and increasingly for its high-grade marijuana.

However, the state has now taken steps to keep the two apart — for now.

According to a new ruling by the Oregon Liquor Control Commission, as of January 1 next year, beer and other alcoholic drinks should not contain either THC, the psychoactive component of cannabis, or CBD, the non-psychoactive part that is said to relieve stress and pain.

Further, the commission has indicated that it will next turn its attention to banning bars from mixing a non-alcoholic CBD beverage on the premises with an alcoholic beverage to create a CBD cocktail.

Mark Pettinger, spokesman for the agency which regulates both alcoholic products and recreational marijuana, cited concerns raised by the United States (US) Food and Drug Administration of potential liver damage from CBD, also known as cannabidiol.

“We’ve wanted to address the issue of CBD getting into alcohol and because there are a lot of unknown unknowns about the effect of taking CBDs,” Pettinger explained.

“There’s very little scientific evidence. People are using them for wellness, but how they interact with other substances, not a lot is known.”

One prominent CBD-infused beer, Two Flowers IPA, was popular at The EastBurn, a pub in the state’s largest city of Portland.

“We were the first bar to put it on tap,” said Michael Fritz, one of the owners of The EastBurn.

“It was a nice IPA.”

The website of the brewery that made the beer, Coalition Brewing of Portland, said the CBD’s “bitter grassiness augments the hop bitterness, while the citrusy terpenes in the CBD mirror the aromatics and hop flavours.”

For his part, Fritz said he didn’t notice any additional effect from the beer besides the alcohol.

“If you have three beers, you’re going to feel like you had three beers,” Fritz said. “You’re going to feel relaxed.”

Coalition Brewing recently went out of business, Fritz said, adding that his own customers drained the last of the CBD-infused beer 10 days ago.

“It was a really good seller for us,” Fritz said.

Pettinger said he didn’t know of any other Oregon brewery that makes CBD-infused beer.

He said that until federal agencies establish regulations surrounding CBD, that his agency felt it needed to step in and impose the ban.

Oregon has been at the forefront in efforts to legalise marijuana.

It was the first state to decriminalise personal possession, in 1973; legalised medical marijuana in 1998 and recreational use in 2014.

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