State regulators reaffirm a ban on hemp-derived THC drinks even as industry guides call them legal, while Rhode Island pursues a beverage licensee over THC limits and a bipartisan, White House-backed bill emerges in Congress to blunt the November 12 federal cap.
NEW ENGLAND — July 24, 2026 — Massachusetts' rules on hemp-derived THC beverages remained in dispute this week, with state regulators reaffirming a ban that has stood since 2024 even as several widely used industry compliance guides continue to describe the drinks as legally sold in Massachusetts liquor stores.
The state's Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission and Department of Public Health maintain that manufacturing or selling any food or beverage containing hemp-derived CBD or THC is unlawful in Massachusetts, under a joint advisory first issued May 29, 2024, that remains in force and carries license suspension or revocation for violators, according to the ABCC. Gov. Maura Healey signed a cannabis reform bill on April 19, 2026 that restructured the Cannabis Control Commission and eased marijuana purchase limits, but the law did not create a retail framework for hemp beverages, according to WBUR's account of the signing; it instead directed the commission to examine unregulated hemp and cannabinoid sales. That contradicts guides such as Budpop's 2026 state-by-state THC drink law map, which describes Massachusetts as permitting hemp beverage sales through licensed liquor stores — a characterization that traces to a June 2025 House bill provision that was later stripped out in conference negotiations, according to available reporting. No source could be found confirming that a liquor-store beverage channel is actually open in Massachusetts today; both regulators and this week's reporting point the other way, so the state's status should be treated as unresolved rather than settled in either direction.
Rhode Island's Cannabis Control Commission met July 24 in Warwick, with a vote on its agenda to resolve a corrective-action notice against Lovewell Farms Co.'s hemp-derived consumable license after the company was found selling two products exceeding acceptable THC levels, according to the commission's meeting notice. The action sits alongside the commission's still-pending March 1 recommendation to the General Assembly that would ban THC beverage sales at bars and restaurants holding liquor licenses, a measure that has not yet been enacted, Rhode Island Current reported. Off-premise retail sale of low-dose hemp THC beverages through licensed vape shops and liquor stores has remained legal in the state since August 2024, though the commission paused new hemp-retailer licensing last year pending its beverage study.
Connecticut moved in the other direction. House Bill 5350, signed by Gov. Ned Lamont on May 22, 2026, raises the state's THC caps for infused beverages to 5mg per container through liquor-licensed retailers and 10mg per container through cannabis retailers, effective October 1, according to the U.S. Hemp Roundtable. The law also builds out a full regulatory structure covering licensing, testing, labeling, distribution and age verification for infused beverages, and separately eliminates the state's THC potency cap on cannabis concentrates, CT Mirror reported.
Vermont continues to bar intoxicating hemp beverages from general retail outside its licensed cannabis market, though an industry coalition is pushing lawmakers for a 2026 fix that would create clearer rules rather than maintain the blanket restriction, according to cannabis policy tracker cannabisregulations.ai. In New Hampshire, Senate Bill 624 — which would cap hemp-derived THC products, including those sold by liquor licensees, at 0.4mg total THC per container starting January 1, 2027 — passed both chambers in May and was enrolled June 10, but legislative tracking service LegiScan showed no record this week of Gov. Kelly Ayotte having signed or vetoed it. Maine saw no state-specific hemp beverage action this week; the state continues to regulate intoxicating hemp cannabinoids through its adult-use cannabis program.
Overhanging all six states is the federal government's November 12, 2026 deadline, when a new definition of hemp is set to cap finished products at 0.4mg of total THC per container, a threshold industry groups say would render most current hemp beverages federally unlawful. A new bipartisan bill introduced Wednesday by Reps. Andy Barr (R-KY) and Angie Craig (D-MN), the Lawful Hemp Protection Act, would instead raise the federal THC threshold to 1% on a dry-weight basis and replace the ban with a taxed, three-tier regulatory system for hemp beverages. The White House backs the measure, according to a press release from Barr's office cited by Marijuana Moment. The bill had not advanced out of committee as of Thursday.
Massachusetts regulators have not indicated whether they plan to issue guidance resolving the beverage-status dispute. New Hampshire's governor has not signaled a timeline for acting on SB624. Rhode Island's General Assembly has not scheduled a vote on the bar-and-restaurant sales ban recommendation, and Vermont's coalition-backed beverage bill had not been filed as of this week.
Forma works embedded on hemp and THC beverage formulation and commercial scale-up, from compliant dosing and label claims through co-packer qualification. This wire is a byproduct of the same regulatory tracking that informs that work.
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