An organization that represents the restaurant industry is calling on Congress to delay the federal recriminalization of hemp THC beverages that is scheduled to take effect later this year and replace it with a regulatory framework that \u201censures consumer safety while meeting growing market demand\u201d for the products as an alternative to alcohol.<\/p>\n
The National Restaurant Association sent a letter to leadership in the Senate and House of Representatives outlining its support for keeping hemp THC beverages legal with \u201cdurable\u201d federal regulations that include age verification, quality control, labeling requirements and impairment standards while also allowing states and localities to set tailored rules for their markets\u2014\u201dsimilar to that of alcoholic beverages.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sean Kennedy, chief advocacy officer for the organization, said in a press release that \u201cconsumers have made it clear that they want hemp-derived THC beverages.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe only question is whether Washington will create a way they can enjoy them safely or if they will allow a thriving market supporting small business owners to disappear because they wouldn\u2019t create a sensible regulatory framework,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The restaurant association cited internal research showing that 5 percent of restaurants that serve alcohol currently also offer hemp drinks, and that 26 percent of all restaurants are interested in offering them under a regulatory framework, which it said represents a potential market of $1.6 billion annually.<\/p>\n
\u201cConsumer demand for THC beverages is driven by a shift in drinking habits, particularly among younger diners whose lifestyles are diverging from traditional beverage alcohol,\u201d Kennedy said. \u201cFor operators\u2014especially those running high-volume beverage venues\u2014these products offer an alternative for guests who want a social drinking experience without alcohol.\u201d<\/p>\n
The restaurant group is asking Congress to delay the ban for two years, which it says would \u201cprovide the predictability operators need, particularly multi-unit and franchised brands navigating varied state approaches, while the existing state-regulated market for low-dose products continues and Congress develops a national framework.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe restaurant industry\u2019s highest priority is the safety of our customers, and our workforce is well-positioned to serve these products responsibly,\u201d the letter to the top Democratic and Republican leaders of the House and Senate says. \u201cOperators selling alcohol beverages have established training and impairment management practices that could be adapted for serving hemp-derived THC beverages.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor many operators, particularly high-volume beverage venues, these products serve as alcohol alternatives for guests wanting to participate in social settings. For consumers whose lifestyles are diverging from traditional beverage alcohol preferences, restaurants want the ability to meet that demand in a safe and regulated market.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hemp derivatives with less than 0.3 percent delta-9 THC on a dry-weight basis were federally legalized under the 2018 Farm Bill that President Donald Trump signed during his first term in office. But late last year, he signed new legislation containing provisions that will redefine hemp to make it so only products with 0.4 milligrams of total THC per container will remain legal after November 12.<\/p>\n
\u201cTime is short,\u201d Kennedy said<\/a>. \u201cWe urge Congress to act now: delay implementation and commit to the deliberate, safety-focused regulatory process which this emerging market deserves.\u201d<\/p>\n As Marijuana Moment reported earlier this week, a Republican congresswoman is circulating draft legislation that would keep hemp THC beverages legal<\/a> under federal law, creating a carve-out from the broad recriminalization of products derived from the crop that is set to take effect later this year.<\/p>\n The Hemp-Derived Beverage Regulatory Clarity Act from Rep. Beth Van Duyne (R-TX), in its current form, would allow adults over 21 to purchase and consume hemp THC drinks with up to 5 milligrams of delta-9 THC per serving. It would also impose a\u00a0federal tax of 10 cents per milligram of any hemp-derived cannabinoid contained within such beverages.<\/p>\n The circulation of the new draft legislation and the restaurant group\u2019s push comes as the White House is separately making it clear that Trump wants Congress to take action to amend the law that threatens to federally recriminalize hemp-derived products.<\/p>\n The administration \u201cwelcomes the opportunity to work with the Congress to, at a minimum, update the statutory definition of final hemp-derived cannabinoid products<\/a> to allow Americans to benefit from access to appropriate full-spectrum CBD products,\u201d the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) said this month, \u201cwhile preserving the Congress\u2019s intent to restrict the sale of products that pose serious health risks.\u201d<\/p>\n The call to avert a broad prohibition on hemp CBD products was included in a statement of administration policy about an annual agriculture spending bill that passed the House of Representatives.<\/p>\n Several lawmakers had filed amendments to that legislation to keep hemp products legal<\/a>, but each was either blocked by the House Rules Committee from advancing to a floor vote or withdrawn by its sponsor.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Administration supports advancement of this legislation, but looks forward to addressing its concerns prior to enactment,\u201d OMB said in its statement of administration policy. \u201cThe Administration looks forward to working with the Congress to provide more input as the bill\u2019s legislative process unfolds.\u201d<\/p>\n In April, the president himself urged congressional lawmakers to again redefine hemp<\/a> to avoid recriminalization of full-spectrum CBD products.<\/p>\n \u201cI am calling on Congress to update the Law to ensure that Americans can continue to access the full-spectrum CBD products they have come to rely on, and that help them, while preserving Congress\u2019s intent to restrict the sale of products that pose Health risks,\u201d Trump said in a Truth Social post on the same day his administration announced it is moving forward with rescheduling marijuana.<\/p>\n \u201cWe must get this done RIGHT and FAST, especially for those who saw that CBD helps them,\u201d he said. \u201cPlus, I am told it will also help our GREAT FARMERS, who we love, and will always be there for.\u201d<\/p>\n Industry advocates say that the law as enacted last year not only threatens to prohibit intoxicating and synthetic cannabinoid products but also stands to remove popular full-spectrum CBD products that many Americans use therapeutically from the market.<\/p>\n \u201cONE in FIVE adults used it in the past year, and many say it improved their chronic pain enormously,\u201d the president said in his social media post, adding that hemp-derived CBD \u201chas made a HUGE difference for so many people.\u201d<\/p>\n He also referenced a new initiative the administration launched in April to cover up to $500 worth of hemp-derived products each year for eligible Medicare patients<\/a>. The program being implemented by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) focuses largely on CBD but also allows products to have up to 3 milligrams of total THC per serving.<\/p>\n \u201cIn December, I signed a very important Executive Order calling for Research and Innovation for Hemp-derived CBD,\u201d Trump said. \u201cOur wonderful Dr. Mehmet Oz moved fast to follow the directive in the Executive Order, and launched a model for some Seniors earlier this month. But more must be done!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPlease get it done, and SOON,\u201d the president said in reference to a congressional fix for the broad recriminalization set to take effect in November. \u201cThank you for your attention to this matter!\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s not clear how far Trump wants to scale back the scope of the scheduled federal restrictions on hemp products and what kinds of revised THC rules and limitations he would prefer to sign into law.<\/p>\n Separately,\u00a0White House officials recently provided a congressman\u2019s office with feedback on hemp regulatory legislation<\/a>.<\/p>\n In April, Vince Haley, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council and James Braid, assistant to the president for legislative affairs, sent hemp policy suggestions to Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY).<\/p>\n \u201cWe appreciate your work to advance the policy of\u201d an executive order Trump signed in December that included provisions seeking to protect Americans\u2019 access to CBD products, the staffers wrote in a letter to the congressman.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are transmitting for your consideration draft legislative text and comments to address the statutory definition of final hemp-derived cannabinoid products in order to allow Americans to benefit from access to appropriate full-spectrum CBD products while preserving the Congress\u2019s intent to restrict the sale of products that pose serious health risks,\u201d the White House officials said, according to a social media post containing a screenshot of the letter. \u201cWe are available for discussion and further technical assistance.\u201d<\/p>\n Separately, anti-marijuana organizations filed a lawsuit suit against the Medicare hemp CBD coverage policy<\/a>\u2014but a judge dismissed the case last month, ruling that they don\u2019t have standing<\/a>. Lawyers for Health and Human Services Sec. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and CMS Director Mehmet Oz had filed a brief asking that the case be dismissed<\/a>.<\/p>\n The White House Office of Management and Budget has also held a series of meetings about a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) CBD products enforcement policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n FDA issued guidance making clear that it does not intend to interfere with implementation of the Medicare hemp-derived products coverage plan<\/a>.<\/p>\n CMS separately\u00a0finalized a rule that will allow\u00a0coverage of some hemp products as specialized, non-primarily health-related benefits through Medicare Advantage<\/a>\u00a0plans.<\/p>\n As hemp products have become more popular with consumers, some large brands are attempting to get in on action.<\/p>\n Major retailer\u00a0Target, for example, is expanding its participation in the hemp-derived THC beverage market<\/a>. Last year, the company began a pilot program involving sales of cannabis drinks at 10 select stores in Minnesota. That apparently went well, and now the company has obtained licenses from Minnesota regulators to sell lower-potency hemp edible products\u2014including THC drinks\u2014at all 72 of its stores in the state.<\/p>\n A U.S. Department of Agriculture report published in April shows that farmers in the U.S. grew three-quarters of a billion dollars worth of hemp crops in 2025<\/a>\u2014a 64 percent increase from the prior year.<\/p>\n The post Major Restaurant Lobby Group Pushes Congress To Keep Hemp THC Drinks Legal As An Alternative To Alcohol<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
An organization that represents the restaurant industry is calling on Congress to delay the federal recriminalization of hemp THC beverages that is scheduled to take effect later this year and replace it with a regulatory framework that \u201censures consumer safety while meeting growing market demand\u201d for the products as anContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":459,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86157"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/459"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86157"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86157\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86158,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86157\/revisions\/86158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: Major Restaurant Lobby Group Pushes Congress To Keep Hemp THC Drinks Legal As An Alternative To Alcohol<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"