Opponents of a proposed bill say it “is unfair in that it seems designed to allow liquor distributors to make an endrun around the state’s strict cannabis rules.”
These days it seems like every state has to endure its own unique trauma around hemp drinks that get people stoned being sold outside of licensed cannabis dispensaries.
If you’ve missed or not completely understood this universal saga up until now, it’s rather simple. While licensed weed dispensaries in legal states like Massachusetts and Rhode Island are regulated down to every last literal seed and cannot under any circumstances be sold across state lines, hemp concoctions that get you comparably high can be produced and distributed with little oversight, resulting in similar products to those you can get at real pot shops showing up in convenience and liquor stores.
(Read our in-depth five-part series on hemp-derived THC here, including all about the loophole in federal law that allows the sales to proliferate.)
This was one of the biggest Bay State cannabis stories of 2024. But after pushback from license holders and concerned lawmakers, state officials dropped the hammer on the increasingly popular hemp beverage market by threatening the liquor licenses of any place that sold the THC alternatives to alcohol. Whether you agree or disagree with the move, it was effective, even simple. But in other states, the hemp vs. marijuana drama has taken on much different flavors.
In neighboring Rhode Island, where the state has been transitioning from its original medical program to a recreational program that only just approved its inaugural rules this month, hemp products are now squarely in the crosshairs of legalization—and on all kinds of shelves as well. As the Providence Journal reported:
A bill now before the Rhode Island General Assembly is calling for better regulation of THC-infused beverages that are also being sold in some bars and restaurants.
Opponents of the bill, including the state’s cannabis cultivators, say the bill is unfair in that it seems designed to allow liquor distributors to make an endrun around the state’s strict cannabis rules that they must follow.
For instance, the bill allows distributors to bring in THC-infused beverages made in other states. Rhode Island cannabis laws prohibit local cultivators and dispensaries from selling any THC products they produce beyond the state lines, and from importing product from other states.
Rhode Island dispensaries also pay some $625,000 in annual fees to operate. The bill speaks only of an annual fee of $1,500 for a liquor wholesaler and a $250 annual fee for an “on premise server,” meaning a bar or restaurant.
One of the politicians attempting to address the situation in Rhode Island, state Rep. Jacquelyn Baginski of Cranston told the Journal that she “favors better regulation than banning the drinks now.”
“These products are already being bought, sold and traded into and out of the state of Rhode Island without regulation, right?” the representative said. “I’m a capitalist. I come from small business. If there’s a market for a product, why should we ban it, if we can sell it safely and appropriately, like we do alcohol? Why wouldn’t we?”
