For dry January, we decided to look back at one of our most talked about episodes last year

on the growing popularity of cannabis drinks.

Hello and welcome to USA Today's The Exert.

I'm Dana Taylor.

This episode originally aired on March 5th, 2025.

New beverage has been showing up in bars and on store shelves.

The cannabis drink, a hemp-derived drink that contains CBD and oftentimes THC as well.

They're marketed as providing a buzz without the downside of a hangover.

But are there drawbacks?

And could these drinks ever replace alcohol?

We're now joined by Stacey Gruber,

director of the Marijuana Investigations

for Neuroscientific Discovery Program

and Associate Professor of Psychiatry

at Harvard Medical School to answer these

and other questions about this new trend.

Thanks for joining me, Stacey.

Thanks so much for having me.

First, before we compare CBD and THC, how do hemp-derived cannabis drinks affect people?

And what are some of the adverse effects?

People are generally looking for something to, quote, take the edge off or to be sort of more relaxed in social settings, and these products are incredibly popular, as you know.

Hemp-derived products versus cannabis-derived products aren't all that different other than, you know,

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