Ohio Asks Sixth Circuit to Reverse Hemp Beverage Injunction

# Ohio Asks Sixth Circuit to Reverse Hemp Beverage Injunction

**MIDWEST, August 25, 2026:** Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson's office filed an opening brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit on August 19, asking the court to reverse a federal injunction that has let ten hemp beverage companies keep selling their products despite the state's SB 56 prohibition. The state's brief accused the companies of pushing an "aggressive theory" of the case, according to Law360.

The appeal is a distinct step beyond the motion to stay Wilson's office filed with the district court in mid-July, which remains undecided more than a month after it was submitted. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Helmick granted the preliminary injunction on July 13, but it covers only the ten plaintiff companies; every other Ohio hemp beverage business remains subject to SB 56's ban on intoxicating hemp products outside the licensed dispensary system.

In Illinois, Chicago craft breweries that built meaningful revenue on hemp-derived THC beverages are bracing for two deadlines landing close together. Bridgeport's Marz Community Brewing Co., which moved from CBD seltzers into THC drinks with its Kush Party and Bong Water lines, and Hopewell Brewing Co., which says THC seltzers and drinks account for roughly 30 percent of its business, were both named and quoted in an August 24 Block Club Chicago feature on the uncertainty. Illinois' Public Act 104-463 moves intoxicating hemp products, including THC beverages, into the state's licensed cannabis dispensary system starting November 12, ahead of a federal deadline currently set for December 11.

Elsewhere in the region, Missouri's August 6 motion to dismiss the MoHemp Trade Association's lawsuit against House Bill 2641 remains undecided, and bills pending in Wisconsin, Kansas and Nebraska did not move this week. The U.S. House returns from recess August 31 and is expected to take up the Senate's measure delaying the federal hemp restrictions to December 11, a decision that bears on every Midwest state without its own regulatory framework.