What CED Clinic's Coverage of Our MoreBetter Study Means for THC Beverage Standards
There are moments in building a brand that stop you in your tracks — not because you planned them, but because the right people in the right places are paying attention.
This is one of those moments.
CED Clinic, the Massachusetts-based cannabis medicine practice led by Dr. Benjamin Caplan, MD, recently featured 23rd State's Cohort 2 results from the MoreBetter Real-World Infused Beverage Study in their Cannabis News section. For a Minnesota-born cannabis beverage brand that spent two years in R&D before ever putting a product on a shelf, seeing our work recognized by a clinician of Dr. Caplan's caliber isn't just a press moment — it's a validation of the kind of company we've been building from day one.
We're grateful. And we think you deserve to know why this matters.
Who Is CED Clinic — and Why Does Their Coverage Count?
CED Clinic isn't a trade publication or a cannabis lifestyle blog. It's a clinical practice founded by Dr. Benjamin Caplan, a Harvard-trained physician who specializes in cannabis medicine and has authored The Doctor-Approved Cannabis Handbook. Dr. Caplan's team operates at the intersection of patient care and cannabis science — counseling patients on dosing, onset, pharmacokinetics, and product selection with the same rigor you'd expect from any evidence-based medical practice.
When their editorial team flags a cannabis beverage study as clinically noteworthy, it's because the data is worth a clinician's attention. Dr. Caplan noted directly that performance standards for cannabis beverages could be "clinically useful if they address onset predictability and dose consistency" — identifying the exact two things that have defined our product development philosophy since we started.
That's not a coincidence. That's what two years of R&D looks like when it's working.
The MoreBetter Study: Real Consumers, Real Data, Real Results
The MoreBetter Real-World Infused Beverage Study is one of the most comprehensive consumer-facing cannabis beverage research efforts ever conducted. Across both cohorts, the study has gathered behavioral and experiential data from thousands of real-world participants across 20+ infused beverage products, capturing how people actually consume, rate, and respond to THC beverages in their everyday lives — outside of a lab, without the noise of controlled conditions that rarely reflect how people actually drink.
23rd State's FRESH PRESS — our THC + CBG pear cider formulated at 10mg THC and 10mg CBG per serving — performed at the top of Cohort 2. That result reflects something we've always believed: that flavor, formulation, and intentional cannabinoid ratios are not separate concerns. They are the product.
When consumers in the MoreBetter study chose FRESH PRESS repeatedly, purchased it again, and rated their experience highly, they were telling us that the combination of a genuinely delicious pear cider and a thoughtfully dosed THC + CBG formula works. When a physician like Dr. Caplan sees those results and elevates them to a clinical conversation, it connects two worlds that have long needed to talk to each other more.
Why THC Beverage Dosing Is Still the Industry's Biggest Conversation
One of the most common barriers we hear from canna-curious consumers — people who are interested in exploring cannabis but haven't yet found their footing — is unpredictability. They've heard stories about edibles taking too long to kick in, or kicking in too hard, or delivering an experience that felt nothing like what was on the label. That fear is real, and it's kept a lot of people on the sidelines.
THC beverages represent a meaningfully different on-ramp. The combination of liquid format, precise dosing, and the emerging understanding of how cannabinoids absorb differently in beverage form gives this category a real opportunity to change the conversation around cannabis accessibility. But that opportunity only materializes if brands take the science seriously — if they commit to formulations that behave consistently, doses that are clearly communicated, and products that deliver what they promise.
That's the standard CED Clinic is pointing toward. And it's the standard we built 23rd State around.
FRESH PRESS at 10mg THC + 10mg CBG isn't a round number we landed on arbitrarily. The inclusion of CBG — a cannabinoid that research suggests may help modulate the intensity of THC's effects — was a deliberate formulation choice. It's why many of our customers describe FRESH PRESS as feeling balanced, social, and approachable. It's why first-timers feel comfortable reaching for it and why regulars come back. The experience is predictable, and in this category, predictability is everything.
The Role of Third-Party Research in Building Consumer Trust
We've always believed that the cannabis industry earns trust through transparency — not just on labels, but in the data we're willing to share and the scrutiny we're willing to invite.
Participating in the MoreBetter Real-World Infused Beverage Study was a deliberate choice. MoreBetter is a leading platform for cannabis beverage research, built around the principle that real consumer data — at scale, across diverse markets and demographics — is more useful to the industry than curated reviews or marketing testimonials. When we submitted FRESH PRESS to the Cohort 2 study, we weren't looking for a trophy. We were looking for honest signal about how the product performs in the real world.
The Cohort 2 results gave us that signal. And when CED Clinic picked up the story and elevated it to a clinical audience, it closed a loop that we're proud of: independent research, validated by a third-party platform, recognized by a physician who has no stake in our success beyond caring about what's good for patients and consumers alike.
That's the ecosystem we want to be part of.
What This Means for 23rd State — and for You
We started 23rd State in 2023 with a founding story rooted in community, in the belief that cannabis beverages could bring people together the way a good glass of wine or a shared cocktail always has — without the hangover, without the anxiety, and with a lot more intention. We're a Minnesota brand, and we've never stopped thinking like one: grounded, unpretentious, committed to doing the work right even when it takes longer.
Being featured in CED Clinic's clinical news isn't the destination for us — it's a marker along the way. It tells us that the industry is watching, that the medical community is beginning to engage with beverage data on its own terms, and that consumers who are asking harder questions about what they're drinking and why are finding credible answers in places that matter.
We're grateful to Dr. Caplan and the CED Clinic team for including 23rd State's Cohort 2 results in their coverage. We're grateful to MoreBetter for building the kind of research infrastructure that makes findings like these possible and credible. And we're grateful to every person who has cracked open a FRESH PRESS, shared a SHAKE with friends, or trusted us with their cannabis experience for the first time.
The work continues. The standards are rising. And 23rd State will keep showing up at the top of the data.
Ready to experience the difference that intentional formulation makes? Shop FRESH PRESS and the full 23rd State lineup at 23state.com.
Recommended
- Explore the Data on Research-Validated THC Beverages
- Discover Fresh Press NA Infused Perry — Real-World Study Results
- Learn more about the Science Behind SHAKE THC Beverage Enhancer
Want to read CED Clinic's full coverage of our Cohort 2 results? Find Dr. Caplan's clinical take here: 23rd State Sets New Performance Standard for THC Beverages with Cohort 2 Results from MoreBetter Study.
23rd State: THC beverage, cannabis beverage study, THC + CBG, dose consistency, cannabis dosing, MoreBetter Real-World Infused Beverage Study, CED Clinic, FRESH PRESS, 23rd State, infused beverage research, canna-curious
