“Opposing a workable regulatory structure because it is not comprehensive cannabis reform risks repeating the very piecemeal approach the cannabis sector has spent years criticizing.”
By Dawson Hobbs, Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America
The cannabis industry has spent years asking Congress for something more durable than prohibition, enforcement discretion and state-by-state improvisation. That is why cannabis stakeholders should seriously consider the Beverage Regulatory Parity Act even if they have been skeptical of hemp-derived THC products or worry that new federal rules could further complicate marijuana’s uneven treatment.
That concern is understandable. For state-licensed cannabis operators, it can feel backwards to watch hemp-derived THC beverages seek a federal regulatory pathway while marijuana remains federally illegal and licensed cannabis businesses remain locked out of ordinary banking, interstate commerce, tax treatment and mainstream retail channels.
But Congress is not choosing between comprehensive cannabis reform and a hemp beverage bill. It is choosing whether a product category that is already being sold and consumed will remain unregulated, face an ineffective federal ban or be properly regulated and taxed.
The Beverage Regulatory Parity Act, introduced by Reps. Beth Van Duyne (R-TX) and Greg Landsman (D-OH), would create that pathway for a narrow category: low-dose,
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