New Jersey Hands Hemp THC Drinks to Liquor Stores, Then Dispensaries

New Jersey liquor stores may sell hemp THC drinks through November 13, 2026, then only Cannabis Regulatory Commission shops can keep the cans. Governor Phil Murphy signed the hemp product limits into law on January 12, 2026, as P.L.2025, c.215, after Senate Majority Leader M. Teresa Ruiz and Senate President Nick Scutari ran Senate Bill 4509 as enacted through lame-duck session.

High-THC gummies, vapes, and flower already left smoke shops and gas stations on April 13, 2026. The drinks are the last open SKU, and they sit in ABC coolers on a clock.

The April Sweep that Cleared Convenience Shelves

The statute rewrote New Jersey’s hemp definition so it tracks the federal rewrite in section 781 of P.L.119-37. Hemp itself cannot hold more than 0.3 percent total THC, including THCA. A finished hemp-derived product such as a gummy or a vape cannot hold more than 0.4 milligrams of total THC per container. Anything over those lines is cannabis or marijuana under state law, and selling it without a CRC license is unlawful.

The new hemp test is not the old 2018 farm-bill test. That older rule counted only delta-9 THC. The Congressional Research Service notes that P.L.119-37 amends the statutory definition of hemp to a total-THC standard, and New Jersey folded delta-8, delta-9, delta-10, THCA, and chemically similar variants into CREAMMA’s THC definition.

Murphy’s bill took effect on January 13, 2026. Governor Mikie Sherrill signed P.L.2026, c.7 on March 30, 2026, and shifted a few later dates. The product ban that emptied convenience coolers still landed on April 13.

WHAT LEFT OPEN RETAIL ON APRIL 13

• Over-limit hemp: Flower or goods above 0.3 percent total THC, or above 0.4 milligrams per container, became cannabis and needed a CRC license.
• Lab-made cannabinoids: Compounds that a Cannabis sativa plant cannot make, and naturally occurring ones made with a chemical process, were barred at once.
• Youth sales: Any product meant to be eaten or drunk that holds a detectable amount of THC cannot go to anyone under 21.
• Remote and machine sales: Online retail of hemp-derived goods or intoxicating hemp drinks is unlawful, and so is a vending machine.

Civil fines start at $100 for a first offense, rise to $1,000 for a second, and hit $10,000 for each later offense, with each act and each day counted separately. Chris Riggs, then acting executive director of the CRC, told the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee that most of the intoxicating hemp sold in the state is made elsewhere, and that local governments had been complaining because the goods sat outside the commission’s reach.

“All intoxicating cannabinoids should be regulated the same,” Riggs said.

Who Can Sell Hemp Drinks in New Jersey Now?

Through November 13, 2026, only two licensed classes may sell an “intoxicating hemp beverage”: the holder of a plenary wholesale license or a plenary retail distribution license from the Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control, and a licensed Class 5 cannabis retailer. The CRC’s own FAQ is the working map of who may sell intoxicating hemp beverages, and it treats a drink made from hemp before November 12, 2026, as that timed product.

Starting May 31, 2026, that drink cannot hold more than 5 milligrams of total THC per serving or more than 10 milligrams per container. It must travel with a certificate of analysis from a lab that follows CRC testing rules, holds ISO 17025 accreditation, and is registered with the Drug Enforcement Administration. ABC licensees also have to keep the cans away from anyone under 21, with staff in the middle of the sale.

WHERE HEMP THC DRINKS CAN SIT

The commission posted that reading in January after Murphy signed the chapter law, and it still governs the cooler.

On Jan. 12, 2026, Gov. Phil Murphy signed P.L. 2025, c.215, regulating the production and sale of intoxicating hemp-derived products and repealing prior law P.L. 2024, c.73. This FAQ serves as interim guidance until the Commission issues regulations. https://t.co/I1kBssQme8 pic.twitter.com/1UGc0q00zD

— New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission (@NewJerseyCRC) January 28, 2026

Liquor Stores Hold a Clock that Stops in November

The liquor lane was never a second cannabis market. It is a seven-month bridge, 214 days from April 13 to November 13, built because ABC shops already check IDs and already live under alcohol rules that convenience stores do not. Senate Democrats said those shops would get “some flexibility” through the federal effective date, then lose the SKU.

An Attorney General advisory in March told wholesalers and retailers to regulate those drinks as alcoholic beverages during the grace period, including brand registration. After November 13, a hemp-derived drink over 0.4 milligrams of total THC per container is a cannabis item under CREAMMA. It has to be made in New Jersey, by a licensed Class 2 manufacturer, and sold by a Class 5 retailer.

Todd Johnson, executive director of the NJ Cannabis Trade Association, backed the crackdown on smoke shops at the December committee hearing and still disliked the liquor carve-out. Bill Caruso, then acting president of the NJ CannaBusiness Association, told senators the federal fight was already over. “This is pretty much done. Congress acted,” he said, and he argued hemp drink brands could cut deals with existing cannabis manufacturers instead of staying in gas-station coolers.

A later Scutari bill tried to stretch the liquor SKU, including larger resealable bottles, while the federal cliff was still months out. That is a last grab at a category alcohol wholesalers want because beer is soft, not a new permanent aisle. If Congress leaves section 781 in place, the cans cannot stay hemp at 5 milligrams, let alone at wine-bottle strength, once the federal definition moves.

With the loophole now closed, folding intoxicating hemp into our cannabis industry regulations is a smart move for the future of the market and the safety of consumers. Phasing these standards in over the next few months will ensure New Jersey is sufficiently prepared once the new federal rules take effect, keeping consumers safe and businesses in compliance.

Nick Scutari, Senate President, January 12, 2026 signing statement

Scutari’s line is the winner’s map. The licensed cannabis channel absorbs the THC. Liquor gets a short consignment. Unlicensed retail gets the raids, including a July 1, 2026 sweep of Morris County smoke shops that pulled intoxicating hemp vapes, edibles, and marijuana off shelves after the April ban.

Thomas Norcia’s Warning the Committee Heard and Set Aside

Hemp growers were the group with the least leverage in the room. Kristen Gooede of Trichome Analytical told senators the state hemp program had 38 license holders, and that CBD-dominant plants that do not get anyone high still fail a tight THC test. Chief Vincent Mann of the Lenape Nation and the NJ Hemp Growers Association said growers had been “left out along the way” and wanted hemp firms grandfathered into cannabis licenses rather than told to start over.

Thomas Norcia of Grow Works put the split in one sentence. He backs pulling psychoactive hemp out of unlicensed shops. He does not back a rewrite that leaves farmers with no legal buyer.

We are for the psychoactive hemp ban. But not at the expense of farmers.

Thomas Norcia, Grow Works, Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee

Norcia said his town does not want cannabis farms or manufacturers, so a CRC license is not a real off-ramp. Committee Chair Paul Sarlo told him the point was “outside of this bill,” then called it a valid one. Ruiz said the office was talking with the NJ Farm Bureau and argued the bill would not hurt hemp farmers because “everything is through interstate commerce.”

Jesse Marie Villars, CEO of Baked by the River, opposed the bill for the damage to local hemp firms even as she liked the hit on shady sellers. The cannabis lobby arrived with a different specimen. Susanna Puntel of the American Trade Association of Cannabis and Hemp held up a Doritos knock-off she said carried 600 milligrams of THC, against the 100 milligram cap on legal New Jersey edibles, and she walked senators through the federal timeline that ends on November 13, 2026.

Sarlo asked whether, if Congress failed to act, “the product in front of you have to come off the shelves.” Congress did act. The growers still do not have a simple path from a hemp license to a Class 1 or Class 2 cannabis license, which is the only legal home for flower and goods that fail the new hemp math.

A Federal Judge Forced Trenton Back to the Drafting Table

S4509 is a second draft. New Jersey already tried to box in intoxicating hemp in 2024 with P.L.2024, c.73, the Hemp Act Amendments that grew out of S3235. Hemp companies sued Attorney General Matthew Platkin, then-CRC Chair Dianna Houenou, and Agriculture Secretary Edward Wengryn in Loki Brands LLC v. Platkin, filed September 24, 2024, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.

HOW THE FIRST BAN BROKE AND THE SECOND ONE LANDED

1. September 24, 2024: Loki Brands, Cycling Frog, Cantrip, and other hemp firms sue in federal court, arguing the 2024 hemp amendments are preempted by the 2018 farm bill and discriminate against out-of-state goods.
2. October 10, 2024: Judge Zahid N. Quraishi permanently enjoins the state from enforcing the pieces of P.L.2024, c.73 that treated out-of-state hemp worse than in-state product, citing the dormant Commerce Clause and farm-bill preemption, and leaves the rest of the statute standing.
3. May 22, 2025: Ruiz and Scutari introduce S4509, which later repeals the 2024 hemp law and reties New Jersey’s hemp definition to the coming federal text, while stating that nothing in the bill bars hemp from moving through the state.
4. December 15, 2025: The Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee reports a substitute, 12 yes, 0 no, with Sen. Michael Testa abstaining.
5. December 22, 2025: The Senate passes the bill 33-1, with 6 not voting. The Assembly substitutes it for A6295, sponsored by Assemblyman Robert J. Karabinchak, and passes it 57-7, with 16 not voting.
6. January 12, 2026: Murphy signs P.L.2025, c.215. The 2024 hemp amendments are repealed. The timed liquor window and the April purge are now statute.

The Commerce Clause fix is the quiet legal core. The first law tried to police out-of-state hemp in a way a federal judge would not allow. The second law copies the federal THC math, keeps transit through New Jersey open, and uses CRC and ABC licenses instead of a home-state product preference. That is how Trenton got a ban that could survive the last lawsuit.

Montville Police Chief Andrew Caggiano, president of the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police, backed the signing on the public-safety side, pointing to delta-8 and other chemically altered goods in gas stations sold with little age control. Debra Bradley of the NJ Principals and Supervisors Association said school leaders had seen health emergencies in underage students. Those quotes helped sell a bill whose commercial effect was a reallocation, not a pause.

After November 13, Only CRC Shops Keep the THC Can

Federal section 781 takes effect November 12, 2026, one year after P.L.119-37 was signed. New Jersey’s ABC cutoff is the next day, November 13. From November 14, a hemp-derived drink over 0.4 milligrams of total THC per container is cannabis in New Jersey. It must be produced by a licensed Class 2 manufacturer and sold by a licensed Class 5 retailer, inside the same testing, packaging, and labeling rules that already bind adult-use drinks.

THE HARD LINES STILL ON THE BOOKS

• November 13, 2026: ABC plenary shops lose intoxicating hemp drinks.
• 0.4 milligrams: The per-container hemp cap that turns a leftover seltzer into a cannabis item.
• 5 milligrams / 10 milligrams: The serving and container caps on drinks still in liquor coolers through the window.
• $100, $1,000, $10,000: The civil fine ladder for selling over-limit hemp without a CRC license.

Tax money from the drinks, while they last, is supposed to land in the CREAMMA fund that already underwrites the legal cannabis market. That is another tell. The state is not building a parallel hemp-THC industry. It is running the last legal inventory through alcohol shops that can check IDs, then folding the demand into the cannabis stores that paid for licenses, security, and local approvals.

Hemp farmers who wanted the psychoactive products gone still need a cultivator or manufacturer license, and a town that will take the facility, if they want to sell anything that fails the new math. Liquor stores get the last months of a 5 milligram can. Dispensaries get the market that remains after November 13, if they can make the drink in state and keep it inside CREAMMA’s rules.

The committee bill was sold as a child-safety crackdown on gas-station delta-8. The chapter law that followed did that job, then assigned the leftover THC can to whoever already holds a state license, first ABC, then CRC, and left the 38 hemp program growers to find another crop or another permit.

Disclaimer: This article is news reporting and analysis of New Jersey statutes, agency guidance, and court orders. It is informational only and is not legal, medical, or cannabis-business advice. It does not tell any person whether a product is lawful to make, move, or sell, and it does not replace counsel from a New Jersey-licensed attorney or a qualified compliance professional before anyone stocks, ships, or consumes hemp or cannabis goods. Dates, milligram caps, license classes, and enforcement status follow the cited CRC FAQ, chapter laws, and federal text as those documents stood, and the November 13, 2026 ABC cutoff and federal hemp definition can change if the Legislature or Congress amends them.