Actor and cannabis icon Seth Rogen says the push to restrict or ban sales of THC beverages amid their rise in popularity shows that “clearly someone is very threatened by them.” But he expects the hemp drink market to prevail in response to consumer demand.
Rogen, whose own cannabis brand Houseplant launched a line of infused beverages last year, spoke about cannabis culture and policy issues in an interview with Bon Appétit that was published on Wednesday.
Asked for his thoughts about the future of the marijuana industry, the comedian said he thinks THC drinks “are very clearly a hot area of discussion, and you see clearly someone is very threatened by them because a lot of states have a lot of lobbying and pressure to not sell them.”
To that point, federal records show that the last three months have seen a surge in congressional lobbying from major alcohol companies and associations aiming to influence federal hemp laws, with a focus on THC beverages that many consumers are turning to as beer and liquor alternatives.
Rogen said THC drinks are a “really good entry level weed product” for people who are afraid of cannabis.
“A lot of people drink alcohol. A lot of people are looking for some sort of release, and I actually think weed is probably a very good choice for a lot of people who don’t think it is a good choice for them,” he said. “It’s all about finding the right way to consume it.”
He also pushed back against state-level efforts to restrict cannabis products.
“The idea that that shouldn’t be allowed to happen in every state is really patronizing to people—it’s treating people like they’re idiots,” Rogen said. “We’re not stupid. We know what this does. We know it’s not more dangerous than alcohol.”
“The idea that it’s getting into some restaurants and bars and sports arenas, to me, is really exciting. I’ve always said until it’s as easy to buy weed as it is alcohol, there is a major gap in logic at play,” he added. “If you sell beer, there’s no reason not to sell [THC beverages], and some places have actually started to do that. That is really encouraging and exciting, and suggests a cultural shift that is tremendous.”
Beyond restaurants and sporting venues, cannabis beverages are also making their way onto shelves at commercial retailers—including Target, which recently soft launched a pilot program to sell THC-infused drinks for adults at select locations throughout Minnesota. A recent poll found that marketing decision to be popular among a majority of cannabis consumers.
Separately, a subsidiary of a multi-state marijuana company is suing DoorDash, Total Wine and several other businesses for allegedly violating Virginia hemp laws by marketing cannabis products that exceed the legal THC limit.
In the interview with Bon Appétit, Rogen also commented on shifting public perceptions of cannabis and his own role in dissolving stigmas associated with marijuana use through his acting and comedy.
He recounted how retired late night host David Letterman once told him that “no one talks about this,” and even marijuana legend Woody Harrelson “was very coy about it and wouldn’t directly say he smoked weed all the time.”
“Now he does, and now he has a dispensary. But at the time, it was not a thing that actors in mainstream movies did,” Rogen said.
The actor also said that cannabis culture has evolved in large part over the years because “people have started to see that the reasons weed was illegal in the first place were highly dubious.”
“They’ve started to question why weed would be so hard to access when alcohol is so easy. It seems like a new lie kind of prevails every now and then from whomever wants weed to remain illegal,” he said. “First it was it’ll just make you go fucking crazy, and then it’ll make you lazy, and then it’s a gateway drug. And slowly, people’s own experience tells them that you can be lazy and crazy and become a drug addict without ever trying weed, and you could smoke weed and never have any of those things happen to you.”
“People saw that with their own eyes, and slowly, these stigmas started to go away.”
Beyond his contributions to cannabis culture and the industry, Rogen has also leveraged his celebrity to advocate for reform—including in 2021 when he and other influencers like comedian Sarah Silverman launched a campaign meant to encourage U.S. voters to reach out to their senators and demand action on legislation to federally legalize cannabis.
Earlier this year, the actor also disclosed the one place he refuses to use cannabis: Singapore, which maintains some of the strictest anti-drug laws in the world.
Image element courtesy of Collision Conf.
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