New Jersey’s ban on popular hard seltzer takes effect

🍸 Judge allows NJ's ban on THC seltzer to stand
🍸 THC beverages are among the fastest selling adult libations in NJ
🍸 A new law bans their sale until they can be regulated and taxed

While a federal judge struck down some provisions of a new law that bans THC infused products in New Jersey, the ban itself will stand.

That means as of tomorrow, all intoxicating hemp products must be pulled from store shelves and cannot be sold until state regulators come up with new rules and licensing procedures.

The ban includes THC beverages and all Delta-8 and Delta-9 products.

The judge also let stand a provision that you must be at least 21 years old to purchase intoxicating hemp products.

Sponsors of the bill banning the products say they were prompted to act by stories of young people getting easy access to the THC products, but they came up with an extremely complicated and poorly worded bill that was challenged as soon as Gov. Phil Murphy signed it.

The judge struck down provisions in the law that would have banned the sale of THC products made outside New Jersey once the new regulations are in place.

Ban is a blow to NJ liquor stores

THC infused seltzers and other beverages are one of the fastest growing segments of the liquor business. Some estimates put potential sales at over $1 billion per year. That could be more than the combined sales of products available at licensed dispensaries in New Jersey.

The beverages are sold in liquor stores, but also at convenience stores and gas stations along with other Delta-8 or Delta-9 products.

New Jersey lawmakers branded them unregulated and dangerous. Gov. Murphy signed legislation on Sept. 12 that banned their sale until the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission can establish rules for sale and taxation.

That ban was challenged in federal court by THC beverage makers saying language in the law signed by Murphy creates "a dizzying maze of rules that are far too complicated for ordinary citizens to navigate."

What happened?

In a federal law that legalized hemp in 2018 contained a weird loophole that exempted certain hemp products. THC beverages are technically derived from hemp which make them legal on the federal level, but also largely unregulated. They are also not taxed at the same rate as legal weed products in New Jersey.

The exemption also includes Delta-8 and Delta-9 products.

Under current federal law, it is permissible to sell an intoxicating cannabis product with less than 0.3% THC.

Most alarmingly, some say, is the lack of penalties for selling these products to children.

That is why the legislature sought to ban them.

The law gives retailers until Oct. 12 to pull all THC products off their shelves and then gives the NJ Cannabis Regulatory Commission six months to come up with a new set of regulations and taxes before the products can be sold again.

By then, manufacturers argue, it could be too late.

What happens now?

Retailers must remove THC beverages and seltzers from their shelves.

Some manufacturers are already trying to create alternatives that get around the complicated language in the new law to allow some sales can continue.

The New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission will now craft regulations governing the sale of THC and intoxicating hemp products.

Those regulations will include a licensing process for retailers as well as a new tax to be assessed on the sale of such products.

Under the law, the NJCRC has up to six months, and perhaps longer, to adopt those regulations and set a timetable for implementation. It's feared by retailer that process could take close to a year and cost them millions in lost revenue as people travel to Pennsylvania or New York to purchase products they cannot sell.

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