“Florida doesn’t need to wait for Washington to show what responsible regulation looks like.”
By Dani Baranowski, Florida Hemp Beverage Coalition
In Umatilla, Florida, my grandmother’s friends unwind over a game of spades with a low-dose THC drink in hand. My friends in their thirties are reaching for the same drinks for different reasons. Some are cutting back on alcohol, and some have quit booze entirely but still want to go out and have a good time.
They’re not alone. From The Villages to Tampa Bay to Miami, Florida adults are picking up hemp beverages at neighborhood stores, restaurants and bars, under the legal framework state legislators put in place in 2019.
NielsenIQ found that 28 percent of U.S. adults have tried a cannabis-infused drink, and 50 percent say they’re interested in trying one. Whatever their reasons, all of them should be free to choose these drinks when they meet the state’s testing and labeling rules, and are held to Florida’s safety standards.
What most of them don’t know is that Washington is about to take that choice away.
In November of last year, Congress rewrote the federal definition of hemp inside a spending bill. Starting on December 11, any finished hemp-derived products with more than 0.4 milligrams of THC per container will no longer count as legal hemp. Even a drink containing two to five milligrams would exceed that limit. That’s a ban on nearly the entire category—not just a crackdown on bad products.
Part of the issue is who lawmakers are hearing from. They aren’t hearing from older adults who make up the fastest growing demographic of new THC consumers. They’re hearing about the worst players in the market, and those concerns are fair.
Chemically synthesized cannabinoids, high-potency products, cartoon packaging and stores that never check ID are real problems. Products designed to appeal to kids have no place in this market, and businesses that ignore the rules shouldn’t be allowed to operate in Florida—period.
But you don’t fix bad actors by punishing everyone who plays by the rules. Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) made the same point in 2024, when he vetoed a state hemp crackdown he said would impose “debilitating regulatory burdens on small businesses.”
The economic stakes are serious, and few states have more on the line than Florida.
Whitney Economics’s 2026 analysis models Florida’s broader hemp market, of which beverages are one part, at about $4 billion a year, second only to Texas. It estimates roughly 39,000 Florida jobs across nearly 5,800 businesses, from farms and manufacturers to distributors and more than 4,600 retailers.
Nationally, the analysis projects the federal restrictions could wipe out $28.3 billion in retail sales.
In St. Petersburg, small business owners Caitlyn and Michael Smith built Herban Flow, a shop for those looking for alcohol alternatives, with hemp THC making up roughly 80 percent of their sales. They have announced one store closing and their downtown location to follow.
On the supplier side, I have friends who have lost their jobs and livelihoods. Distributors, bars, restaurants and small brands are making tough decisions right now with no idea what the rules will be in a few weeks.
Florida can’t fix the federal problem alone. Our congressional delegation should push for a federal framework that keeps low-dose hemp beverages legal with strong consumer protections. But Florida doesn’t need to wait for Washington to show what responsible regulation looks like.
No state is better positioned to lead. We have one of the country’s biggest hospitality and tourism economies. Florida’s bars, restaurants and retailers already know how to check IDs, train staff and follow the rules for selling adult beverages. Florida already requires hemp products to be sold only to adults 21 and over by permitted businesses, with testing, clear labels and packaging that isn’t designed to attract children.
The next step is clear standards written specifically for beverages: potency and serving-size limits that match how people actually drink them, accountability for manufacturers, distributors and retailers and enough resources for regulators to enforce the rules.
Those rules also have to work in the real world. A restaurant manager or corner-store owner should know which products are allowed, what paperwork to keep and what to do if a product is recalled. A server should know how much THC is in a drink, and customers should trust what they’re ordering before it reaches the table.
That’s what responsible regulation looks like. Prohibition isn’t the right move. Banning something adults want has never made demand disappear. If legitimate Florida businesses are pushed out, people may buy untested products potentially from other countries or illicit markets, from sellers with no labels, no ID checks and no one accountable.
That’s why Natalie Kato and I founded the Florida Hemp Beverage Coalition: to give the responsible businesses, hospitality operators, distributors and consumers in this category one voice. Our goal is a Florida-first framework for hemp beverages that other states can follow. It’s also why I created Highspitality, an online certification that trains bars and restaurants to serve THC beverages responsibly.
Florida has a chance to write the rules other states copy: rules that protect kids, hold businesses accountable and trust adults to make their own choices. Floridians don’t need Washington deciding what we drink. We need clear, enforceable standards and leaders in Tallahassee and Congress willing to stand up for us.
Dani Baranowski is executive director of the Florida Hemp Beverage Coalition. She is head of sales at Lorea, a female-led, Florida based hemp beverage company, and creator of Highspitality, THC Safe Service Training for bars and restaurants.
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