The MoreBetter THC Beverage Study Is a Turning Point for Cannabis Wellness

By Leah Kollross, Founder of 23rd State

Every once in a while, a piece of coverage lands that doesn't just report on the cannabis beverage category — it actually understands it. That's how I felt reading Riley Hayes' recent feature in Investors Hangout, "MoreBetter's Expanding Study on THC Beverages and Health." On behalf of everyone at 23rd State, I want to say thank you. Thank you for spotlighting the MoreBetter Real-World Infused Beverage Study with the seriousness it deserves. Thank you for putting consumer wellness, alcohol harm reduction, and rigorous data at the center of the story. And thank you for helping the broader investor community see what those of us building this industry have known for a long time: THC beverages aren't a novelty. They're a generational shift in how people drink.

I want to use this space to expand on why the IH News piece matters — for our brand, for our category, and for the millions of adults quietly looking for something better than the next glass of wine.

A Cannabis Beverage Study That Finally Speaks the Language of Science

The cannabis industry has spent the better part of a decade fighting two battles at once: a regulatory battle for legitimacy, and a cultural battle for trust. Both of those battles are won the same way — with data.

That's why the MoreBetter Real-World Infused Beverage Study is so important, and why the Investors Hangout coverage is such a meaningful moment. The piece doesn't reduce the research to marketing fluff. It walks readers through the methodology, the participant base, and the numbers that should be making every alcohol executive in America pay close attention.

The first cohort included more than 3,000 participants. The second cohort, now underway, expands the work with 10 new beverage brands, more than 15 unique product SKUs, and over 2,000 new participants self-reporting daily on mood, sleep, and alcohol use. As Tyler Dautrich, COO of MoreBetter, put it in the article, this phase moves the work "from proof-of-concept to population-level insight." That's not a marketing line. That's a research milestone.

For a category that has been dismissed, doubted, and underestimated, having a peer-credible data partner like MoreBetter — and a financial publication like Investors Hangout willing to take the findings seriously — is a turning point.

The Numbers the Alcohol Industry Doesn't Want You to See

The headline statistics from the first MoreBetter cohort are the kind of numbers that should reshape the wellness conversation. Here's what the IH News piece highlighted:

• 43% of participants were trying THC or CBD beverages for the first time. That's not a niche audience. That's mainstream curiosity.
• 71.7% of participants reported drinking less alcohol while incorporating infused beverages into their routines.
• 87.4% of participants said they believed THC and CBD beverages offered better health benefits than traditional alcoholic drinks.
• Daily alcohol use across the cohort dropped from 32.9% at baseline to 20.1% during the infused-beverage phase.

Read those numbers slowly. A 12.8-point drop in daily alcohol consumption is not a soft signal. It's a behavioral shift, captured in real time, by real people, in their real lives. That's exactly the kind of evidence the medical community, the regulators, and the investment community have been asking for. It's also exactly what those of us who founded cannabis beverage brands believed we would find when we started.

When I launched 23rd State in 2023 — the year Minnesota became the 23rd state to legalize adult-use cannabis — I didn't do it to chase a trend. I did it because I genuinely believe a low-dose, dose-consistent, beautifully crafted THC beverage is one of the most underrated wellness tools of our generation. The MoreBetter data is the receipt.

Why 23rd State Joined the MoreBetter Study

The Investors Hangout article quoted me explaining that 23rd State joined the study to "deliver meaningful insights into safety and performance," and I want to expand on that here.

We participated because we have always believed our consumers deserve more than vibes. They deserve transparency. They deserve to know how a 5mg THC pour actually compares to their usual evening pour of pinot. They deserve to know whether switching to FRESH PRESS — our THC and CBG-infused pear cider — actually helps them sleep better, drink less, and wake up clearer. They deserve to know whether Blush Crush Infused Bubbly, our sparkling-wine-format cannabis beverage, can genuinely replace the bottle of rosé on the kitchen counter without sacrificing the ritual. They deserve to know whether the SHAKE edible glitter drops they're stirring into a mocktail are doing what we say they're doing.

The only honest way to answer those questions is with population-level data. So when MoreBetter invited us into the study, we said yes — not because we wanted a marketing asset, but because we wanted to be held accountable by the same standards as any consumer-health product. That commitment to rigor is exactly what the IH News piece captured, and it's exactly the standard we want our entire category to embrace.

A Coalition of Brands Choosing Science Over Spin

One of the most important things the Investors Hangout article highlighted is that 23rd State is not in this alone. The MoreBetter Cohort 2 includes a coalition of cannabis beverage brands — Cantrip, Woodstock, Uncle Arnie's, Medterra, and others — that have all chosen to put their products under the microscope.

That matters. In a category often defined by competition for shelf space and consumer attention, the willingness of so many brands to participate in the same shared study is a quiet revelation. As Adam Terry, CEO of Cantrip, noted in the piece, the second cohort gives brands a chance to demonstrate consistency and build consumer trust. Richard Lee, CEO of Woodstock, returned for the second study because the marketing data from the first cohort was so valuable. Brian Miesieski, CMO of Uncle Arnie's, framed it as essential for an industry where data-driven insights are still in their infancy.

Taj Peeran, President of Medterra, may have said it best in the article: this study provides "measurable proof of what consumers already love about THC and CBD beverages."

That's a coalition. That's a category growing up.

Why Thoughtful Financial Coverage Matters

It's worth pausing on why coverage from a publication like Investors Hangout is so meaningful for the cannabis beverage industry.

For most of our category's history, the press attention we've received has fallen into two narrow lanes: lifestyle features in trend-driven outlets, or skeptical coverage in legacy publications still treating cannabis as a controversy. What we've rarely had is serious financial-press attention that takes the science, the consumer behavior, and the market opportunity at face value.

That's exactly what Riley Hayes and the IH News editorial team delivered. The piece doesn't sensationalize. It doesn't moralize. It reports the data, captures the voices of the operators, and trusts the reader to draw their own conclusions. That kind of journalism is rare, and for a founder building a brand at the intersection of cannabis, beverage, and wellness, it's invaluable. When the investor community starts taking THC beverages seriously, capital flows in, innovation accelerates, and consumers ultimately benefit. That's how categories mature.

The Bigger Picture: Beverages as Harm Reduction

Underneath all the percentages and SKU counts is a much bigger story — and it's one I think about every single day as a founder.

A 12.8-point drop in daily alcohol consumption among study participants is not just a market opportunity. It's a public health story. It's people sleeping better. It's people waking up to their kids without a hangover. It's people no longer reaching for the second or third pour. It's people who haven't enjoyed an evening drink in years because their bodies couldn't tolerate alcohol anymore — finally getting the ritual back.

This is what the cannabis beverage category was built to do. Not to replace alcohol overnight. Not to vilify anyone's choices. But to give adults a credible, beautiful, dose-consistent option for the moments when they want the relaxation and the social warmth without the cost.

The MoreBetter study, and the Investors Hangout coverage of it, validates that mission with the kind of evidence the wellness conversation has been waiting for.

A Final Thank You

To Riley Hayes and the editorial team at Investors Hangout — thank you. Thank you for treating cannabis beverages as a serious wellness category. Thank you for letting the data speak. Thank you for amplifying the voices of the founders, scientists, and operators building this industry with intention.

To Tyler Dautrich and the entire MoreBetter team — thank you for designing a study that meets the moment. Cannabis beverages have spent years asking to be measured by the same standards as any other consumer-health product. You gave us the framework to do it.

And to the readers who found their way to the article and then to this post — thank you for taking the time to look closer. The shift away from alcohol and toward intentional, plant-forward alternatives is one of the most important wellness movements of the decade. The fact that you're paying attention is the reason it will keep growing.

If you want to read the original Investors Hangout coverage in full, you can find it here. And if you want to experience the products that helped make this research possible, we'd love to welcome you to the 23rd State family.

Here's to better drinks, better data, and a much better way to unwind.