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It’s a point of much speculation amongst trade types what federal legalization of cannabis might do to the American beverage-alcohol markets. I’ve covered the issue a few times before (see here and here, for example.) The upshot is that nobody is too sure, because decriminalization remains a figment of Dark Brandon’s 2020 campaign platform, and full-blown recreational legalization even further off. Without the abundant, like-to-like data that federal rescheduling would usher forth, the experts I’ve spoken to say it’s tough to make substantive, broadly applicable inferences about weed-booze market interplay.
Of course, there are currently twenty-something states where recreational cannabis and related products are legal. Now, lawmakers in one of those states are considering a bill that would bring alcoholic beverages, and nonalcoholic beverages infused with hemp-derived THC, more directly into one another’s lanes, enabling businesses to serve the two under more similar rules. In other words, they’re trying to codify the crossfade.