Sodas, seltzers and other drinks that can result in a marijuana-like high could be leaving Missouri shelves in November. Gov. Mike Kehoe signed a bill into law Thursday banning all hemp-derived products containing THC — the psychoactive compound found in cannabis.
Hemp-THC beverages started hitting the market a few years after the 2018 Farm Bill removed a decades-long ban on growing the plant. Since then, breweries across Missouri have jumped into the budding market.
Columbia’s Logboat Brewing Co. launched grape and orange-flavored THC sodas called “Garden Club” in January. The brewery has expanded into additional varieties of the cannabis drink in the months since.
Logboat CEO Tyson Hunt lobbied Missouri lawmakers this spring to pass regulations on hemp products instead of banning them outright. In an email to KBIA on Thursday, he said that the state ban was expected, but the company is still watching for clarifying regulations from the federal government before November.
“If nothing changes federally, we will no longer produce our Garden Club beverages as they will be illegal both federally and at the state level,” Hunt said. “For now, it’s business as usual; we will continue to produce and sell Garden Club beverages throughout the state until we no longer can.”
4 Hands Brewing Company in St. Louis offers multiple hemp-derived THC fruit drinks and Kansas City’s Boulevard Brewing Company produces two seltzers with varying doses of hemp-THC named “Berry Jane.”
Missouri’s hemp ban was championed largely by Republicans dismayed by edible hemp-THC products available at convenience stores and gas stations. Lawmakers expressed concerns over cannabis products with what they allege is deceptive packaging getting into the hands of children.
Unlike marijuana, hemp products that contain THC can be sold outside of dispensaries in places such as liquor stores, grocery stores, bars and breweries — often referred to as the “hemp loophole.”
Late last year, in a bill Congress passed to reopen the federal government, there was a provision to close the hemp loophole, reverting to a ban set to take effect in November.
Hemp Beverage Alliance founder and president Christopher Lackner wants to see hemp drinks regulated the same way alcohol is — with age restrictions, labeling, dosage limits and product testing.
Lackner said the growth of drinkable hemp products has been driven by consumer demand.
“Folks have, since Covid pretty much, been kind of rethinking their relationship with alcohol and they're looking for something different,” he said.
For years, industry advocates have been urging Congress to pass laws developing safety standards and best practices for hemp products. Lackner said those efforts ramped up after the loophole was closed and are gaining traction in Washington, D.C.
“What we're hearing is that Congress does want to resolve this issue with a regulatory solution,” Lackner said. “There is still the possibility of a ban looming in November, but as we've seen in recent months and in recent days, … new legislation has been introduced to further discussion and to see if we can find a way to make this work.”
Many hemp beverage makers restrict their products to consumers age 21 or older and Logboat is following FDA soft drink standards voluntarily.
After the legislature passed the bill banning hemp products in the state, 10,000 letters were sent to the governor asking him to veto it, according to the Missouri Independent.
Missouri’s hemp ban comes in the same week the Trump administration reclassified medical marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III — the same drug category that contains Tylenol.
Questions over whether ban includes hemp drinks
While the bill includes language specifically banning hemp products in the form of candies, gummies, baked goods and more, it doesn’t explicitly mention beverages.
“Now, does that mean that beverages are excluded from the prohibition?” said Craig Katz, Missouri Hemp Trade Association secretary. “It's a darn good question.”
The legislation appears to leave room to respond to federal government action on hemp regulation. If Congress pushes back the federal ban, hemp-derived THC beverages would remain legal federally. But if the federal ban goes into effect in November, Missouri’s hemp ban would also apply to beverages.
Katz said hemp businesses in Missouri, with the support of the trade association, could bring a lawsuit to challenge the state hemp ban.
“There will be no shortage of businesses and individuals who will be willing to join in a suit like that,” he said. “You're talking about thousands of jobs that are at stake, hundreds of businesses, family farms that are on the line.”
Brian Riegel grows hemp and sells products made from it in Missouri. He’s a board member of the Missouri Hemp Trade Association and called the recent state ban “a complete letdown,” which he anticipates will be challenged in court.
“I truly believe this bill is so horrible that the courts will throw this out in a heartbeat,” Riegel said.
John Grady, a hemp farmer who owns Slaphappy Beverage Company and operates a “hemporium” — a kind of general store offering hemp products in Rosebud, Missouri, said if a state or federal hemp ban goes into effect, it would shutter businesses across the state.
“It prevents the process for a farmer to grow. It prevents the process for manufacturing of the cannabinoids to be used in the beverage,” Grady said. “If Missouri (law) stays the way it is, but federal (law) changes, that means other states are going to be selling to Missouri the final product, and Missouri farmers and manufacturers and labs will be left out.”
