On a recent Adweek virtual happy hour, I cracked open a beer and had a great time catching up with my colleagues. Shortly after, I stood up and immediately wondered why I felt like I was on my third drink of the afternoon.

The answer was right on the bottle of imperial IPA: 9% ABV. That packs quite a punch for someone who came up at a time when beers rarely cracked the 5% range.

Cannabis brands are experiencing a similar potency boom, with smokeable and drinkable products pushing the THC content to new highs.

As my Adweek colleague (and cannabis industry expert) T.L. Stanley writes today, while most cannabis-infused beverages offer less than 10 milligrams of THC per serving, Uncle Arnie’s Iced Tea Lemonade (tagline: "a trip worth taking, man") boasts a staggering 100 milligrams per bottle.

And you can really expect the potency focus to go into high gear as actor Seth Rogen brings his Houseplant cannabis brand to the U.S. from its home base in Canada. Houseplant's products, like the line shown above, boast THC levels up to 33%. (For comparison, Florida is considering a 10% potency cap.)

What's your take on the potency of cannabis and THC-infused products? Think we'll see a national round of regulation, or is it just, as cannabis advocates say, a return to the moral panic of the '50s and '60s?

Let me know at the email below or at @Griner on Twitter.

David Griner
International Editor, Adweek
David.Griner@Adweek.com

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