THC seltzers and other hemp-derived drinks have spread into New York delis, bottle shops and bars, often in a legal gray zone. In August 2026, a bipartisan pair of House members proposed a national rulebook for them that borrows heavily from beer, wine and spirits. Here is what the Beverage Regulatory Parity Act would do, why Congress is racing a deadline, and how it lines up with the stricter rules New York already has.
What the bill would do
The Beverage Regulatory Parity Act, from Reps. Beth Van Duyne (R-TX) and Greg Landsman (D-OH), would carve hemp THC drinks out of a looming federal crackdown and regulate them as their own category. Based on bill summaries reported by Food Safety Magazine and Ganjapreneur, the main terms are:
- Potency cap: no more than 5 milligrams of intoxicating THC per serving.
- Age: a national 21-and-over rule for buying, possessing or drinking them.
- Tax: a federal excise tax of 8 cents per milligram of THC. On a single 5 mg can, that works out to 40 cents of federal tax before any state or local levy.
- Alcohol-style distribution: a three-tier system of producers, wholesalers and retailers, each needing a federal permit, with the Treasury's Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau running permits and enforcement and the FDA overseeing food safety.
- Ingredients and labels: synthetic cannabinoids banned outright, hemp grown in the United States, and labels showing servings, milligrams per serving, impairment warnings and a drug-test disclosure.
Retailer Total Wine & More and the Hemp Beverage Alliance have backed the bill, according to Cannabis Legalization News.
Why Congress is up against a deadline
The pressure comes from the federal funding law Congress passed in November 2025. It rewrote the federal definition of hemp to shut out intoxicating products, excluding items with more than 0.4 milligrams of total THC per container. That change was set to take effect November 12, 2026. A typical 5 mg THC seltzer is more than ten times over that line, so without a new law most hemp drinks now on shelves would become federally illegal. That is why beverage makers and alcohol distributors have lobbied for a carve-out rather than a full repeal.
Update: October 2026
The clock has moved, but it has not stopped. Congress folded a short delay into its stopgap government funding bill, H.R. 6500, which the House passed 370-48, RCRC reported. The President signed it on September 3, according to Marijuana Moment. Most of the hemp THC restrictions now take effect December 11, 2026 instead of November 12. One exception: synthetic cannabinoids that cannot be produced naturally by the cannabis plant are still set to become illegal on November 12.
As of early October, Congress had not enacted any replacement framework. The Van Duyne-Landsman bill is one of several competing approaches. Marijuana Moment reports that Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY) has filed a broader hemp regulation bill with taxes and age limits, and Rep. James Comer (R-KY) has circulated one focused on packaging and testing. Lawmakers now have until December 11 to pass a framework, extend the delay again, or let the restrictions take effect.
New York officials are moving on their own track. In September, Chelsea Davis, Governor Hochul's deputy secretary for gaming, cannabis and alcohol, told the New York Post that unlicensed THC drinks undercutting legal dispensaries were untenable, Hoodline reported. The same report noted that state bills to let liquor stores sell low-dose THC drinks did not pass in the 2026 session.
How New York already treats THC drinks
New York effectively runs two lanes for THC drinks:
- Cannabis beverages in licensed dispensaries. These are adult-use cannabis products made by New York-licensed processors, tested and tracked by the state, and sold only to adults 21+ in OCM-licensed stores.
- Hemp-derived beverages sold elsewhere. These fall under the state's cannabinoid hemp program, which requires a license to sell them. As summarized in recent reporting, state rules cap hemp drinks sold outside dispensaries at 1 mg of total THC per serving and 10 mg per package, with a minimum 15-to-1 ratio of CBD to THC.
That means a 5 mg federal standard would be looser than New York's current hemp limits. Even if Congress adopts it, New York's own permit and potency rules for hemp drinks would stay on the books unless Albany changes them. Sen. Jeremy Cooney (D-Rochester) introduced S9220 in February 2026 to let liquor and wine stores sell cannabis drinks of up to 5 mg of THC per serving under a new state permit, with a 9% distributor tax and 13% retail tax. The bill remains in a Senate committee.
What New York shoppers should watch
- November 12: federal recriminalization of synthetic cannabinoids.
- December 11: the new deadline for most hemp THC products, including drinks, unless Congress acts again.
- Albany in January: whether lawmakers revive the liquor-store beverage bill or tighten enforcement on unlicensed sellers.
If you want a THC drink with state testing behind it, licensed dispensaries carry cannabis beverages; find one through our dispensary directory. For background, read our explainer on what the federal hemp THC ban means, the White House request to save hemp CBD or delay the November ban, and our guide to THC drinks, New York's fastest-growing category.
Cannabis and hemp THC products are for adults 21+.