Seth Rogen Says Push To Ban Hemp THC Drinks Shows ‘Someone Is Very Threatened’ By The Expanding Market
Push to ban hemp THC drinks is the tell. When a new ritual starts nibbling at the edges of America’s sacred happy hour, someone with a lot to lose reaches for the rulebook. You can hear it in the clatter of lobbyists’ briefcases and see it in statehouse memos—anxious energy aimed squarely at THC beverages, the fast-rising, hemp-derived cousins muscling onto bar menus and supermarket shelves. Actor and cannabis lifer Seth Rogen put it plainly in a recent conversation with Bon Appétit: the heat around THC drinks exists because they work—for the curious, the cautious, and the bored-with-booze—delivering a measured buzz without the baggage. The “hemp THC drinks” market is growing, and like any new cuisine that actually tastes good, it’s upsetting the old guard’s table settings.
The math isn’t complicated. Federal disclosures have lately reflected a sharp uptick in alcohol industry lobbying to shape hemp rules, with particular attention to THC beverages that consumers are swapping in for beer or liquor. You don’t spend that kind of money unless you smell competition. Meanwhile, culture keeps moving where regulation lags. Restaurants are experimenting with low-dose spritzes alongside pilsners. Sports arenas are dipping toes into cannabinoid seltzers. People want options that let them toast the moment and still show up for the morning. For decades, we treated cannabis like a back-alley secret while alcohol got the corner booth and the dessert cart. Now the cannabis beverage aisle is learning to speak the same language as pinot and pale ale—labeling, dosage, provenance—so ordinary adults can make an ordinary choice without feeling like they’re breaking into a pharmacy after hours. That’s not subversion; that’s maturation.
Retail tells the story best. In Minnesota, Target tested the waters with adult-only, hemp-derived THC beverages—and early signals say shoppers noticed. For a snapshot of how quickly consumer sentiment shifts when convenience joins curiosity, see Marijuana Consumers Are More Likely To Shop At Target Following Decision To Sell Cannabis-Infused Drinks, Poll Shows. That is a classic American answer to moral panic: if you stock it thoughtfully and explain it clearly, people will make adult choices. But the policy weather is fickle. Minnesota’s top lawyer has already taken heat for co-signing a call to Congress to curtail hemp THC; his defense—whatever you think of it—shows the fault lines forming between public demand and political caution. For context on that power struggle, check Minnesota Attorney General Defends Signing Letter Urging Congress To Ban Hemp THC Products Amid Industry Pushback. The absurdity is that while consumers are learning how to dose like grown-ups, parts of the system are trying to shove the whole category back into the shadows.
Enforcement, as always, is where the rhetoric meets the red tape. In Virginia, a subsidiary of a multi-state cannabis company has gone after delivery platforms and retailers for allegedly marketing products that exceed the permissible THC threshold—proof that the market’s gray zones aren’t hypothetical; they’re on DoorDash, in your browser, and possibly next to the Chardonnay. This patchwork of state-by-state rules was inevitable. It’s also fixable. Clear potency caps, transparent COAs, ID verification, and honest marketing can turn the “hemp beverage problem” into another regulated aisle that keeps the cowboys out and the customers informed. But the broader fight over what adults may buy is spilling beyond beverage coolers. In Florida, the very act of letting voters weigh in on legalization has detoured through procedural purgatory—see Florida Marijuana Legalization Campaign Sues State Over ‘Nonsensical’ Delay In Ballot Initiative Review—while in New England, even signature gathering has turned contentious enough to draw official complaints, as outlined in Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office Is Receiving Complaints About Anti-Marijuana Initiative Petitioners’ Tactics. These aren’t side plots. They’re the main dish—rules, access, and whether adults get treated like adults.
Peel back the politics and the story stays human. THC beverages are a bridge—an “entry-level” on-ramp for people who want a softer landing than a joint and a cleaner morning than a three-martini dinner. That doesn’t mean the category gets a free pass. It means we insist on the same discipline we demand from alcohol: consistent potency, lucid labels, child-resistant packaging, age checks that actually bite. Do that, and the push to ban hemp THC drinks collapses under its own condescension. Culture has already moved. As Seth Rogen told Bon Appétit, the old stigmas are fading because lived experience keeps beating ghost stories. Adults learned long ago that you can be reckless without cannabis and responsible with it. The beverage aisle is simply catching up. If you’re ready to explore the real craft of cannabis—thoughtfully, responsibly, and with flavor—take a look at our curated selection here: https://thcaorder.com/shop/.
