Bill banning hemp beverages could crater industry in Kentucky, critics warn

Yahoo

06-03-2025

FRANKFORT, Ky. — A revised bill that would ban the sale of THC beverages in Kentucky is moving through the General Assembly after a committee meeting Wednesday evening, despite concerns over how the legislation could affect the burgeoning industry.
Senate Bill 202, from Sen. Julie Raque Adams, R-Louisville, was filed last month, with language at the time that would have changed "web site" to "website" in an obscure state statute. Ahead of Wednesday's meeting, the bill was rewritten to temporarily ban the sale of hemp-based drinks in Kentucky.
The new version of the bill was not publicly available online as of Thursday morning.
It was approved by the Senate Licensing and Occupations Committee on a 7-2 vote but faces an uncertain future — with some supporters even questioning whether they'd be able to vote in favor of the bill on the Senate floor.
Sens. Jimmy Higdon, R-Lebanon, and Michael Nemes, R-Shepherdsville, voted against it, while two Louisville Democrats, Sens. Cassie Chambers Armstrong and Karen Berg, passed during the vote, citing a need for more information. Sen. Stephen Meredith, R-Leitchfield, voted in favor of it in the committee meeting but said he would not repeat that vote in the Senate if a proposed moratorium on sales remains in the bill.
The new language in the bill would ban the sale of drinks containing hemp and cannabinoid products until July 2026 to allow further studies to take place. It would also call on the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to put new regulations in place by the start of 2026 (regulations for some hemp products currently exist, Raque Adams said, but they do not apply to beverages) and would require the University of Kentucky to study manufacturing, testing procedure, distribution, sales and consumer effects.
Raque Adams said the moratorium isn't ideal, but the bill would address "a really serious issue, because we have an explosion of intoxicating beverages that are being sold to places that are available to kids, and there's really no regulatory structure around it."
"In order to get the conversation moving in the right direction, we felt like we had to put (the moratorium) in there," she said after the meeting. "We had to show how serious we were taking this issue."
CFHS is currently in charge of regulating the industry in Kentucky. Hemp-based products are not supposed to be sold to anyone under 21.
Hemp beverages are a growing industry nationally. The Washington Post reported hemp-based beverages brought in an estimated $382 million in sales in 2024, with indications that figure could rise to nearly $750 million by 2029.
Still, the industry has been met with pushback in some states. California has banned products infused with THC — the intoxicating chemical in cannabis, a plant family that includes hemp — along with states such as Colorado and New York.
Jim Higdon, CCO and co-founder of Louisville-based Cornbread Hemp (and the son of Sen. Higdon), criticized the bill as one that could significantly hurt his business and took issue with the speed in which it advanced in the legislature. The deadline to file new bills was two weeks ago, but Adams was able to file the proposal through a "shell bill" — a piece of legislation put forward before the deadline that's later rewritten.
"Because of this surprise beverage ban, Cornbread Hemp could lose its entire beverage investment," Higdon said in a statement before testifying at the hearing. "This is a manufactured emergency generated by special interests trying to keep Kentucky in the past. We will fight this until the last day of the session."
Cornbread Hemp employs more than 70 people and has shipped more than 600,000 orders, according to the company. It announced a $1 million expansion last week that would create more than 50 new jobs, with support from Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg and Greater Louisville Inc. CEO Sarah Davasher-Wisdom.
Higdon said a moratorium would end the momentum Cornbread Hemp and similar companies have at their backs. Dee Dee Taylor, the CEO and founder of 502 Hemp who testified alongside Higdon, added even a temporary ban would "kill their business in the state."
"Once you lose ground in a state, you don't come back, you move on," she said, noting online retailers can ship directly to customers, giving an edge in the meantime to companies outside Kentucky.
Two organizations reported lobbying on "intoxicating hemp" during January, according to Kentucky Legislative Ethics Commission records — the Kentucky Restaurant Association and Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of Kentucky. That organization's chief lobbyist, Charles George, told The Courier Journal in a text message its members "simply want intoxicating hemp beverages regulated in the same manner as alcoholic beverages."
Raque Adams, co-chair of the Senate committee, said discussions about a hemp beverage bill first took place during an interim committee meeting in September but stalled through the fall until the General Assembly reconvened in January.
Committee chairs often file shell bills "just in case something comes up," she said. In this case, another legislator had been working on a hemp beverage bill as well, but the pair were unable to come to an agreement with stakeholders about what the legislation should look like.
"We're running out of days. We had to giddy up and go," she said. "That's why I said 'I've got a shell bill that can fit, kind of enhancing this regulatory framework.'"
The bill still faces a full vote in the Senate before being sent to the House. Legislators will meet through next week before recessing for a 10-day veto period, then reconvening for two days at the end of the month.
Reach Lucas Aulbach at [e-mail].
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky bill would ban sale of THC drinks