Congress banned fake hemp. Don’t let them carve out an exception for weed soda

Published September 10, 2026 10:00am ET



You can buy THC drinks at grocery stores, convenience stores, and online, because they are marketed as “hemp-derived.” But testing the drink itself generally cannot tell us whether that claim is true, or whether it actually contains marijuana.

That regulatory blind spot has helped intoxicating THC products move far beyond marijuana dispensaries and into ordinary stores.

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