The Booze Lobby’s Dirty Little Hemp War

Stone Slade

04-17-2025

High At 9 News Original Story

There’s a war happening right now over who gets to sell THC-infused drinks, and it’s not being fought in dispensaries or grocery stores. It’s happening behind closed doors—at the Capitol, in back rooms, and under the polished smiles of industry reps. And leading the charge? A group called CABA—the Coalition for Adult Beverage Alternatives.

Sounds harmless, right? It’s not. CABA is backed by companies like Spec’s, Keef, Tilray, Pamos, and Emergent. Their big plan? To lock up the booming hemp beverage market by forcing all sales through alcohol-only distribution channels. That’s right—they want hemp-derived THC drinks treated like booze so they can run the whole show, from warehouse to register.

Independent hemp companies? Sidelined. And this isn’t just some Texas experiment with House Bill 28. It’s a national playbook. Like Lukas Gilkey of Hometown Hero put it, “They’re going in behind the scenes and trying to wipe out the entire hemp industry across the country.” Let that register.

These folks aren’t fighting for consumer safety. They’re fighting for market control. They want to force a thriving, diverse industry into the same tired mold they already dominate. Farmer’s markets? Gone. Online sales? Dead. Your favorite local shop with vetted, clean products? Nope. Unless they have a liquor license or deal with a booze distributor, they’re out.

Now to make all this sound palatable, they’ve rolled it up in feel-good language about

“protecting minors” and “public health.” And to be clear—everyone agrees kids shouldn’t be

guzzling THC. That’s not the debate.

Even Governor Greg Abbott chimed in, saying:

“Both the House and Senate, they agree on a core principle—and that is that children, minors,

should not have access to high-level THC.” But the best part of what he said was “they’re

looking at other strategies for those who are not minors.”

Translation? Lawmakers know adult access is the issue now—but they’re still letting CABA

hijack the conversation. Because HB 28 doesn’t stop at safety. It uses “child protection” as a Trojan horse to gut the hemp industry and hand the pieces to big alcohol. It’s prohibition with a liquor license.

So the question isn’t whether hemp products should be safe and restricted to adults. Of course they should. The question is: are we going to let liquor distributors write the rules for an entirely different industry? Because if we do, it won’t just be bad policy—it’ll be the blueprint for how every new market gets hijacked before it even has a chance to grow.

These guys aren't protecting consumers—they're protecting their turf. And if the hemp industry doesn't wake up fast, there won’t be much left to protect.