Lancaster drink maker Endo and a hemp grower warned Pennsylvania lawmakers the federal THC redefinition would gut non-intoxicating products even as the state's attorney general urged Congress to let it stand, while Vermont's Upstate Elevator launched a THC-free beverage line.
NORTHEAST, August 14, 2026: Pennsylvania's hemp industry pushed back this week against the state's own attorney general over the federal government's incoming hemp redefinition, warning it would wipe out non-intoxicating products alongside the intoxicating drinks regulators are targeting. Jake Sitler, who owns Lancaster-based hemp beverage maker Endo and heads the Pennsylvania Hemp and Cannabis Guild, said the federal 0.4 milligram per-container THC standard set to take effect November 12 would sweep in CBD gummies, tinctures and drinks that have no intoxicating effect. The U.S. Hemp Roundtable estimates the change would eliminate roughly 95 percent of the hemp consumables market nationally, according to Spotlight PA.
Attorney General Dave Sunday signed a letter with more than 30 other state attorneys general urging Congress to preserve the November 12 deadline, saying in a statement that "protecting children from dangerous products is more important than bottom lines of businesses." Pennsylvania's Department of Agriculture has licensed 170 hemp growers and 32 processors, and industry advocates put the sector's economic contribution to the state at up to $1.4 billion annually. Adams County grower Tyler Shannon, who sells none of his roughly $400,000 in annual hemp crop to intoxicant makers, told Spotlight PA the redefinition "would completely destroy my business."
In Vermont, Upstate Elevator launched its first kanna and kava beverage line on August 11, a pair of zero-proof, THC-free functional spritzes and sodas, with a third flavor due later this month. Founder and CEO Dylan Raap described the move as diversification beyond cannabinoids amid what he called a year of "significant change and uncertainty" in the hemp industry.
Separately, New York distributor Sarene Craft Beer Distributors and Remarkable Liquids swapped territories effective August 1, with Sarene taking on Remarkable's New Jersey business and ceding its own territory north of New York City, according to Brewbound. The deal had not previously been reported in this digest.
New Hampshire's Senate Bill 624, a 0.4 milligram per-container THC cap enrolled since June, remains without a confirmed governor's signature for a fifth straight week, with LegiScan showing the bill's legislative progression complete as of a July 9 action but no signing announcement on record. In New York, Rep. Nick LaLota's color-coded intoxicant-labeling bill, previously reported without a formal name, has been identified as the Safe Sips Act; it has not yet drawn cosponsors or a committee referral. Massachusetts's Cannabis Control Commission is next scheduled to meet publicly on August 25.
Forma works embedded on hemp and THC beverage formulation and commercial scale-up, from compliant dosing and label claims through co-packer qualification. This wire is a byproduct of the same regulatory tracking that informs that work.
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