Hemp drinks are big business in the United States and poised to grow even bigger. Mary Bernuth wants in, and she’s not alone.
Thanks to the 2018 U.S. Farm Bill, hemp-based products are at least quasi-legal across the United States – and, unlike marijuana, they’re shippable across state lines.
Companies big and small are betting on hemp-derived drinks becoming the next big thing for health-conscious, smoke-wary consumers.
Bernuth’s Pharos Brands was one of 30 hemp-derived THC beverage companies at the Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America’s January expo.
“We’re killing it here,” Bernuth told MJBizDaily reporter Chris Roberts from the bustling convention hall.
“We want to mainstream this,” she said. “We feel hemp beverages are an essential piece of destigmatizing THC.”
But when the first can of Pharos seltzer is sold in stores this spring with 2.5 milligrams of hemp-sourced THC, it won’t be sold in Montana, where Bernuth lives and where Pharos is produced.
That’s because Montana law requires any end product with more than 0.3% THC to be sold at a state-licensed marijuana dispensary.
Such rules don’t exist on the other side of the Dakotas in Minnesota, where a 2022 state law specifically allows products with low doses of hemp-derived THC to be sold through mainstream retail outlets such as supermarkets and convenience stores.
In a familiar theme, states around the country offer similar patchworks of conflicting rules.
At least, that’s the case for now.
The federal law that has allowed a hemp-derived product market worth billions to emerge almost overnight could soon change – and dramatically.
Read Chris Roberts’ story to learn why this situation is significant for hemp and marijuana executives.