Header Image : Melany Dobson, co-founder of Hudson Cannabis
The NY Post
State regulators have banned the distribution of cannabis pills that are also infused with caffeine — a combo that’s been a popular pick-me-up for fitness buffs and office professionals, The Post has learned.
The New York Office of Cannabis Management issued a stop order to Hudson Cannabis, an upstate marijuana/hemp farmer and processor that provides the key ingredients for the related cannabis brand 1906.
1906 sells two different “drops,” or pills, with low doses of THC and higher amounts of caffeine marketed as “Go” and “Genius” in small cylinder containers.
The firm’s “Go” drops contain 80 milligrams of caffeine and 2 mgs of THC-extract and 5 mgs of cannabidiol [CBD]/ weed extract and other plant-based or herbal ingredients. Go is marketed as an energy stimulant.
Its Genius pills contain 20 mgs of caffeine mixed with 2.5 mgs of TCH and 5 mgs combined of CBD and Cannabigerol (CBG), also found in the marijuana plant, and other herbal or plant extracts. It’s touted as a “brain power” supplement to boost focus and memory and calmness.
The 1906 cannabis pills have been marketed in New York since February of last year.
But OCM regulators issued a “quarantine,” or stop order, for the 1906 tablet July 24 after inspecting the 1906 combined cannabis-caffeine mix products at the Hudson Cannabis facility.
“Evidence supports that ingredients used in product are not allowed to be used in cannabis products,” said the quarantine order signed by inspectors Natalie DeLong and Matthew Hinken.
The order said the mixed ingredients “may jeopardize public health or safety.”
The company marketing 1906, which has been sold in seven states including New York, is appealing the ruling banning the sale of $1 million of its inventory in New York.
“Hudson Cannabis and our production facilities fully follow New York State’s cannabis regulations,” said Melany Dobson, co-founder of Hudson Cannabis, in a statement to The Post on Sunday.
“We are surprised by this decision from the State to quarantine products that have been on the market for over 18 months, are sold legally in States across the nation, and as far as we know have had zero reported adverse effects.
“This type of arbitrary and capricious behavior, preventing the sale of safe and tested products readily available across the country, only serves to benefit the illicit market Governor Hochul claims to care about shutting down,” Dobson said.
A lawyer for 1906’s parent firm Nuka Enterprises, Matthew Schweber, said OCM cited what he described as a wacky decaffeination rule that forbids infusing pure caffeine into cannabis products but allows “naturally occurring caffeine.”
The rule states, “A processor is prohibited from processing any products which… contain any non-phytocannabinoid ingredient that would increase potency, toxicity, or addictive potential, or that would create an unsafe combination, known or unknown, with other psychoactive substances. This prohibition shall not apply to products containing naturally occurring caffeine, such as coffee, tea, or chocolate.”
OCM claims that caffeine increases “potency, toxicity, or addictive potential or… create(s) an unsafe combination [with cannabinoids],” Schweber said.
“But OCM can’t say which prohibition exactly caffeine triggers? Does caffeine increase cannabis’ ‘potency?’ Does it increase its ‘toxicity’ or its ‘addictive potential?’ Does it create ‘an unsafe combination?’ ” Schweber said.
“They can’t say. Do they have documented evidence of any of the dangers of combining caffeine and cannabis? No, of course not,” the lawyer said.
Schweber said the “crazy” part is that state regulators don’t explain why “naturally occurring caffeine” is OK but added caffeine is not.
Read more https://nypost.com/2024/10/27/us-news/ny-bans-sale-of-caffeine-infused-cannabis/
