Hemp ban would be a buzzkill for THC drink industry

Good morning! Today is Monday, April 20, 2026. You’re reading The Charlotte Ledger, an e-newsletter with local business-y news and insights for Charlotte, N.C.

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Hey, it’s Ashley, hope you ended the weekend on a high note. Appropriately enough, we have a lead story today looking at the flourishing THC drink market and what a looming federal ban on hemp means for this side of the cannabis industry. I always learn something new from Ledger freelancer Daniel Larham’s reporting on the industry, and today’s story is no exception.

Today’s Charlotte Ledger is sponsored by T.R. Lawing Realty:

by Daniel Larlham Jr. 

Cannabis-infused drinks have boomed in popularity as bars, breweries and even venues allow on-site consumption and consumers get more conscious about their alcohol intake.

These drinks, often taking form as a seltzer or faux liquor, have in many ways become products separate from the rest of the hemp industry. 

But similar to the flower, vapes and edibles found across the hemp industry, a looming federal ban on hemp threatens to halt the production and sale of such products in North Carolina. 

Language in last November’s bill to extend federal funding aimed to close a perceived loophole in the 2018 farm bill that allowed these hemp-derived THC products. Under the new law, virtually all hemp-derived THC products, including beverages, would be illegal.

In Charlotte, NoDa Brewing’s hemp-infused seltzer brand, Happy Bird, launched just over a year ago and already accounts for about 11% of the brewery’s sales.

“Our branding is intentionally … targeting a more feminine consumer. But we try not to eliminate any consumers who aren’t that,” said Jacob Virgil, president of NoDa Brewing. “Whereas you look at flower, I would imagine it is not targeting the middle-aged soccer moms who are going to bring these to her kids’ soccer game, tailgate or whatnot.”

If its hemp-infused product was to be banned in November, “it’ll hurt us,” Virgil says. 

“If 11% of our business goes away overnight, that’s not going to be a fun next day,” he said.

Breweries have, in many ways, become a family-friendly “third space” for folks and neighbors to congregate, even as consumer preferences for alcohol have dropped. A record low of 54% of Americans reported that they consumed alcohol in 2025, according to Gallup. Younger people are drinking even less, and the belief that moderate drinking is bad for health has risen to a new high of 53%. 

Much like the rising prevalence of non-alcoholic brews, THC-infused drinks offer an alternative for those who are health-conscious or identify as “California sober” — people who abstain from using alcohol and other addictive substances but still use marijuana.

With drinks typically around the 5% to 10% THC mark, brewers say these products are intended to be sessionable — to allow consumers to have one or two drinks and catch a buzz that’s similar to drinking a couple of beers, without the calories or the hangover. 

“These beverages, I’d say over the past three years, have gained a significant foothold in North Carolina,” said Lisa Parker, executive director of the NC Craft Brewers Guild. “They are coming into popularity at a time that we have a lot of consumers who are seeking nonalcoholic products but still want something that provides a light social buzz.”

Brewers also believe that they’re already well situated to safely manufacture these drinks. That has, in many ways, helped spur the rapid growth in popularity of these drinks in recent years. Considered a niche part of the cannabis industry before 2018, THC beverage sales topped $1.1B last year, according to Whitney Economics. Among the estimated 500-750 THC beverage brands, only 200 were sold through marijuana dispensaries.  

“There’s some brand equity and a trust factor built into breweries and distilleries and any business that sort of makes a liquid that has built up that trust with their customers already,” says Phillip McLamb, chief operating officer of Resident Culture Brewing Co.

Compared to smoking, THC drinks have much less social stigma, McLamb added, and compared to edibles, they have a similar social element to alcohol. 

However, much like edibles and other hemp-derived THC products, concerns have been raised about their availability to children and their contents. 

The additive for seltzers containing the water-soluble hemp isn’t regulated by the FDA, and their creation process and recipes can vary greatly. Compared to tinctures and edibles, hemp beverages can be much more difficult to test and may contain contaminants, according to ActLab, a third-party hemp testing company.

Consumers who drink these products are more similar to beer and wine drinkers than those who traditionally use other hemp products, said Kris Gardner, executive director of the North Carolina Beer & Wine Wholesalers Association.

“They don’t typically smoke cannabis, maybe they dabble in some of the edibles, but the beverages set themselves apart because, for the most part in North Carolina, they’re very low-dose beverages,” Gardner said.

From a wholesaler’s standpoint, that distinction in consumer base is what makes them attractive to retailers and means they’re more likely to be found in mainstream markets, including on grocery store shelves.

But as the hemp ban closes in, those familiar with the THC drinks industry say that the products could exit the market even sooner than that November deadline. 

Melissa Johnston, vice president of strategic development at Charlotte-based Tryon Distributing, said that while the company’s calculated entrance into the THC drinks market has been a successful one, the company has decided to hold off on adding more suppliers until there’s a clearer picture of where the industry ends up. 

“The potential for how many more places would actually pick this up is so much greater than we actually realize,” Johnston said. But many business owners who tell her that they would love to stock these THC beverages are concerned about stocking something that could be banned in a few short months. 

Gardner believes that retailers and wholesalers could begin depleting their inventory as early as June. 

What exactly will happen to these beverages in the coming months is certainly the question of the industry right now, said Matt Skinner, CEO of the Charleston, S.C.-based beverage company High Rise. 

In March, the South Carolina Senate passed a bill that would keep both THC drinks and gummies legal in that state. If signed into law, that carveout would put milligram caps on the products, limit their sale to adults 21 and older and limit most sales to liquor stores. On-premises consumption sales would not be allowed under that law. 

Skinner believes that part of why South Carolina is working towards a carve-out on THC beverages is exactly because of how intertwined it has become with the alcoholic beverage industry. The three-tiered regulatory structure that suppliers, wholesalers and retailers operate under ensures better quality control over the products in the long term. 

“When they bring a brand into their warehouse to sell to a retailer, they have to go through manufacturing practices with that brand, they have to make sure labelling is accurate, [Certificate of Labor Approval], so they protect the retailer,” Skinner said, adding that a lot of other hemp products can go direct to a retailer or to a consumer.

While numerous bills regarding hemp and cannabis have been introduced in the North Carolina legislature — including one that would regulate THC seltzers through the North Carolina Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission — the most likely path for legal, regulated cannabis products in North Carolina appears to be Gov. Josh Stein’s Advisory Council on Cannabis, which released an interim report earlier this month.

While the council’s final report is expected to be delivered in December, after the hemp ban is slated to go into effect, this early version recommends that the North Carolina legislature adopt a regulatory structure based on total THC content and intoxicating potential, rather than separating hemp and marijuana. 

As the committee moves towards its second phase over the next few months, a vision of what cannabis regulation could look like in North Carolina could become clearer.

Beyond a deadline extension on the hemp ban, both the local alcohol industry and the hemp industry appear to be galvanized around similar regulatory structures, such as limiting the sale of products to adults 21 and older, regulating the amount of THC in each drink and quality control regulation on how the products are made. 

Johnston and Skinner both said that they recently visited Washington, D.C., to speak with lawmakers about the industry and push for regulations. Skinner said that he came out of the trip with a positive outlook on the industry, and Johnston said that nearly everyone she spoke to agreed that there are too many jobs and too much money attached to the industry for it to go away overnight.

“We would love for this to be treated basically the same way alcohol is treated,” Johnston said. “It’s an adult product used by adults. It can be fun to use. But also, we’ve got to keep it out of the hands of our kids, and we’ve got to make sure we’re bringing this to communities in a respectful and responsible manner.”

Daniel Larlham Jr. is a freelance writer. He can be reached at [email protected].

Today's supporting sponsor is Arts+:

The Charlotte region appears to have quietly added another Fortune 500 company to its ranks.

Get ready to start hearing a little bit more about Sunbelt Rentals Holdings Inc., one of the country’s biggest providers of rental equipment for construction and industrial uses. Fortune’s annual listing of the county’s largest publicly traded companies is typically released in late May, and it looks to us like Sunbelt Rentals will join that list for the first time this year.

That’s because the company, which was previously known as Ashtead Group, reclassified its headquarters from London to Fort Mill in March and made its Sunbelt Rentals subsidiary the controlling company, according to securities filings. It started trading on the New York Stock Exchange on March 2.

That seems like a sensible move, because if your company is called “Sunbelt Rentals,” it should be headquartered in the actual Sun Belt and not in dreary and overcast London, right?

The company has annual revenue of nearly $11B, which is easily above the threshold to make it on last year’s Fortune 500 list. Using last year’s list, Sunbelt Rentals would have clocked in around No. 386, which would have been the smallest of the Charlotte region’s seven Fortune 500 companies and the only one based in York County.

The other Fortune 500 companies headquartered in the Charlotte region are Bank of America, Lowe’s Home Improvement, Honeywell, Nucor, Duke Energy, Truist and Sonic Automotive. There are an additional 12 companies in the Charlotte region that occupy No. 501 to No. 1000.

Sunbelt Rentals’ office is off I-77 near the S.C. 160 exit, not far from Fort Mill’s Baxter Village. It is unclear how many the company employs locally, and a spokesman did not return an email on Sunday. Sunbelt Rentals says it has more than 24,000 workers company-wide. Fort Mill was previously the company’s North American headquarters.

There is no great significance to having one more locally based company named to the Fortune 500 list, although Charlotte boosters and economic developers like to cite an abundance of big companies based here as an indication of the region’s business-friendly climate. —Tony Mecia

American Airlines has broken its silence on the idea of a mega-airline merger, saying it is not interested in talking with rival United Airlines about joining forces. 

A report from Bloomberg News last Monday disclosed that United’s CEO had talked with President Donald Trump in February about the possibility of merging with American. Analysts said such a combination seemed unlikely because of antitrust concerns. The airlines declined to discuss the idea.

Late Friday, American released a statement that said it is “not engaged with or interested in any discussion regarding a merger with United Airlines. While changes in the broader airline marketplace may be necessary, a combination with United would be negative for competition and for consumers.”

It also praised “the leadership and strong support of President Trump, Secretary [Sean] Duffy and numerous other leaders in the Administration who have demonstrated expertise and an ongoing commitment to continue to improve the world’s best aviation industry.”

A bipartisan group of senators expressed concern about the potential of an American-United merger, writing to the CEOs of both companies and asking them to provide details of discussions and possible effects on fares, routes and workers, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

Some industry watchers theorized that the discussion of an American-United merger was a trial balloon for United’s ambitions to merge with another carrier, such as JetBlue, which is reportedly assessing whether to sell itself to another airline.

Delta Air Lines’ CEO noted last week that high fuel prices have traditionally led to consolidation in the airline industry. Jet fuel prices have more than doubled since the end of February and are at all-time highs. —Tony Mecia

Related Ledger article:

More people are getting evicted from their homes as the cost of housing rises, according to a new report examining housing in Mecklenburg County.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg State of Housing Instability and Homelessness report found:

Justin Tucker of Legal Aid of North Carolina said during a presentation of the report last week that the uptick in evictions is particularly alarming because “it’s going to follow you for the rest of your life in this state.”

“There’s no way to get an eviction off your record,” even if it’s dismissed, Tucker added. “It’s a real barrier.”

Michael Englehart, who manages the city’s Housing Trust Fund, said the rapid rise of housing costs in Mecklenburg means that what a 60% AMI unit — housing that’s affordable for a household earning 60% of the area median income — rented at five years ago is very different from what it is today.

An increase in AMI levels means an increase in cost-burdened renters and, eventually, eviction filings, he continued.

Even when new affordable housing gets built, those units aren’t necessarily available to anyone considered low income. Owners and property managers frequently consider factors such as credit history, income and, yes, eviction records for a prospective tenant to qualify.

“Getting into one of those units can be a huge challenge,” Englehart said. “It’s quite depressing when you think about it. These developments may not be providing opportunities for the most disadvantaged.”

The report found the sharpest increase in renters considered cost-burdened was not actually within the lowest income brackets. Renters who earn less than $50,000 annually are almost all cost-burdened. But the share of cost-burdened individuals in Mecklenburg who earn between $50,000 and $74,999 annually has grown the most of all income levels since 2014: 11% were considered cost-burdened in 2014, which has since risen to 68% in 2024. —Ashley Fahey

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