Seattle's 'Footloose' moment: Chef protests ban on weed-infused drinks

Chef Brendan McGill enjoys skewering the regulators who banned his CBD-infused drinks, comparing them to enforcers of the dance ban in the movie “Footloose.” He said in a state that sells such potent marijuana concentrates that “your lips turn blue and you pass out on your feet,” it’s bizarre that officials have banned CBD extract in drinks, something so calming that “it might make you go to bed early.”

Meanwhile, CBD extract is popping up on drink menus in New York and other places where recreational marijuana is NOT legal.

My friend Erika Iverson recently came across CBD on the menu at Bubby’s Tribeca in Manhattan. She described the place as kid-friendly and “hipster rustic.” The CBD was served in the form of a simple syrup. “It’s a very brunchy or bistro-y menu,” she said, “and then on the drink menu along with all the cocktails and wine and beer, they have this small section of CBD-infused drinks.”

CBD, or cannabidiol, is made from hemp or cannabis but it’s non-psychoactive, it doesn’t make users feel high. It’s also the basis of a new FDA-approved drug. But for now it’s still illegal under federal law.

 “In New York they’re getting away with it because their county health just hasn’t made it a priority,” McGill said. McGill owns restaurants in Seattle and on Bainbridge Island.

He said he first tried CBD-infused lemonade on a recent trip to California. Afterward he said he felt relaxed, even on a trip through airport security. “It’s subtle,” he said. “I’m talking about drinking chamomile tea or something.”

So he decided to offer a version of the London Fog latte, made with Earl Grey tea, in his restaurant, Café Hitchcock in downtown Seattle. He said, “We called it the Seattle Fog instead, and dosed it with the CBD.”

His CBD extract came from hemp grown by a friend of his in Oregon. Since it’s from out of state, it’s not regulated by the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board. WSLCB spokesman Brian Smith said that CBD is under the purview of the Drug Enforcement Administration, but the agency hasn’t taken any regulatory or enforcement actions.

Seven weeks later, McGill said Public Health—Seattle & King County told him to quit serving the CBD drinks.

The county’s decision was based on advice from Joe Graham, who manages the food safety program at the state’s Department of Health. He has told several counties that CBD can’t be allowed in food and drinks for two reasons: it’s derived from a form of cannabis, and it’s not FDA-approved.  “We rely on the fact that this is a Schedule 1 drug and we rely on the list of federal food additives,” Graham said.

He said the lack of oversight around CBD production is a problem. People are buying it online from other states and overseas.

“The potential harms would be dosage…I can’t speak to what the actual safe dose is but that would be a concern,” Graham said, “And then also just the source of it, how it was manufactured.”

Brendan McGill agrees that CBD sourcing is a concern. CBD produced in Washington has been tested for solvents and pesticides, as is the oil he uses.

He said people have asked if he’d serve a CBD latte to children. He said he’d be more worried about the caffeine. “I have a 3- and a 6-year-old and I would give either of them CBD before I would give them a quad-shot mocha,” he said.

King County Council member (and former state senator) Jeanne Kohl-Welles said her office has been in touch with McGill, and she’d like to see the legislature allow CBD extract in restaurants. “I do support a new law that would allow for the use of CBD oils in food and drink products if regulated,” she said, with some possible restrictions. “Likely, my knowing the legislature pretty well, they would not allow that for minors to consume,” Kohl-Welles said.

McGill said there’s a serious side to his dispute with the health department: he sees the ban on CBD drinks as a vestige of the war on marijuana that Seattle, especially, has rejected.

“We’re proud of that in Seattle. This is the kind of city where you don’t get your life ruined for smoking a joint,” he said. “And that was before Washington State made it legal.”

Meanwhile California, where McGill first tried a CBD lemonade, recently banned CBD in food and drinks. Washington regulator Joe Graham said he’s contacting other states like Oregon, to understand why they’re permitting it. “Some states are moving toward that and we’re trying to find out what they’re using as a legal basis because right now we haven’t read anything at the federal level that would allow this,” he said.

 “States can depart from the federal list of approved food additives,” Graham said. “If they do they would have to determine if an unapproved additive is safe. That's complicated for any food additive but especially for a substance such as CBD” in light of federal restrictions and concerns about the manufacturing process.

But federal restrictions on the use of CBD could change soon. In the wake of FDA approval for the new CBD-based treatment for epileptic seizures, the federal government is expected to reclassify CBD extract and remove it from the Schedule 1 list of drugs “with no currently accepted medical use.”