Michigan Marijuana Regulatory Agency offers guidelines for cannabis-infused beverages

Cannabis-infused drinks are coming to Michigan.

The Michigan Marijuana Regulatory Agency issued a bulletin on Monday that offers guidelines "for the submission and approval of a marijuana-infused beverage."

In 2019, Michigan bars and restaurants briefly experimented with CBD-infused beverages before healths officials prohibited them. The new guidelines make it clear what's allowed and what isn't.

Cannabis-infused drinks can only be sold at MRA-licensed facilities, where alcohol isn't allowed. So that means marijuana-infused beer, wine, and spirits are off the table. Nonalcoholic beers are fair game, however.

But beyond that, the guidelines say that "marijuana-infused beverages must be shelf-stable and should be produced in such a way as to ensure a product is safe for ingestion and consistent in production," meaning "foods that can be safely stored at room temperature."

Anyone who wants to make cannabis-infused beverages must conduct a product stability study ensuring that THC levels do not vary by more than 15% since packaging. The length of the study will dictate the expiration date for the products. Otherwise, the standards for cannabis-infused beverages are pretty much the same as for other infused products, aside from testing requirements for pH, terpenes, and homogeneity.

There is one element that could be controversial, however.

According to The Social Revolution, processing facilities producing cannabis-infused beverages must be "in the process of receiving Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) certification" — a non-governmental certification standard that, in other states, large corporate entities have tried to establish with the effect of making it more difficult for small companies to compete.

"Processors of cannabis-infused foods are not currently required to meet the GMP standards, which makes this an inexplicable inclusion," The Social Revolution notes.

Regardless, we can expect to see an explosion of cannabis-infused nonalcoholic beers, teas, coffees, and more appearing throughout Michigan real soon.

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