San Francisco Frontiers - Cracking open a can of cannabis -- America's new pastime (for now)

Pot has long been associated in the United States with hippies and stoners nursing pungent joints.

Now -- or at least until a looming federal law drops the hammer on the trend later this year -- many Americans are getting a more socially acceptable buzz around dinner tables or out on the patio in the form of THC-infused beverages sold at mainstream supermarkets.

Hosting a brunch for friends at her coastal North Carolina home, Cecilia Pfaff, a small business owner, had a spread of beverages laid out on the kitchen counter.

There was beer. There was wine. There were mimosas.

And there was also a large, frosted glass bottle of Willie's Remedy+ with a label that read "Hemp Derived...High Dose. Social Tonic."

The fancy bottle contained no alcohol but did have 170 mg of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) -- the chemical key to marijuana's intoxicating effects. That's 10 mg per serving.

"Pretty much everybody I know -- all of whom are professionals -- are taking a THC-derived product in some form," Pfaff told AFP between pulling quiches out of the oven.

Across the kitchen, one such professional, Pat Clougherty, poured himself a finger of the cloudy beverage, which had been bought in the local supermarket, into a rocks glass.

"It's replaced a lot of what we drink at night," the pharmaceutical salesman said of his and his wife's drinking habits. "It used to be red wine or beer, but we just pour a couple of those."

"You don't wake up feeling it as much," Clougherty said, referring to hangovers.

- New highs -

In 2025, polling firm Gallup said that just 54 percent of Americans drink alcohol -- the lowest number since it began asking the question in 1939.

By contrast, market research firm Euromonitor says sales of cannabis beverages are exploding as more products migrate from niche stores to mainstream shops.

Trent Mooring started the Kaya brand of THC-infused beverages in the nearby city of Kinston in 2024, expanding on his successful craft beer and alcoholic seltzer business.

"Sales have tripled over the past year," Mooring told AFP, noting that a major supermarket chain agreeing to carry the products had fueled the growth.

Euromonitor's Peter Hamilton told AFP his firm's "estimate for the industry grows from $238 million in 2023 up to approximately $720 million in 2025 and estimated to surpass $1billion in retail sales in 2026."

That's if Congress doesn't bring the legal high back to earth.

- Congress ends the party -

Recreational marijuana is classified as an illegal drug under federal law, even if it has been legalized in multiple individual states.

However, products derived from hemp -- the cannabis plant, but with lower THC content -- have been mostly legal federally since a 2018 law change.

Critics argue that the change passed in Congress was meant to encourage the market for non-intoxicating hemp-derived textiles and foods.

Instead, it opened the floodgates to innovative products aimed at delivering highs by concentrating or deriving THC from hemp into potent drinks, candies, vapes and more.

In late 2025, the Republican-controlled Congress once again changed the law so that from November 12, 2026 no product will be allowed more than 0.4 mg of THC per container -- way off the 5 mg and 10 mg in many mainstream products.

"It'll crush the (THC) beverage industry," Mooring said.

Industry groups -- including the National Restaurant Association and Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America -- are pressuring Congress to change the law once again.

Mooring argued for keeping THC products legal, but bringing them under regulation, similar to the rules for alcohol.

"They've got to figure something out," Mooring said.

Q.Taylor--SFF