{"id":333588,"date":"2026-08-07T01:03:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T01:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.clevescene.com\/?p=333588"},"modified":"2026-08-06T14:39:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T14:39:09","slug":"great-lakes-brewing-joins-suit-against-ohio-in-fight-over-thc-drinks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.clevescene.com\/news\/great-lakes-brewing-joins-suit-against-ohio-in-fight-over-thc-drinks\/","title":{"rendered":"Great Lakes Brewing Joins Suit Against Ohio in Fight Over THC Drinks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Great Lakes Brewing has joined 13 other beverage manufacturers and sellers in suing the state under the belief that its weed laws unconstitutionally bar them from\u00a0sourcing and selling THC drinks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Senate Bill 56 went into effect on March 20, it created a new ecosystem for any business interested in selling anything tied to marijuana or hemp. Although lawmakers intended to put the kibosh on shady smoke shops selling Delta-8 and Delta-9, those offering THC drinks argued that the state\u2019s hyper-vigilance has uprooted what is already heavily self-regulated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other words, as the federal suit filed in late July argues, beverage sellers like Great Lakes could be reprimanded\u2014that is, receive a felony-level hemp trafficking charge\u2014if they\u2019re caught and prosecuted for importing out-of-state hemp or marijuana products to brew their intoxicating seltzers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn effect, the State of Ohio, through the enactment of Senate Bill 56, has banned from market-participation all companies that produce federally legal hemp products,\u201d the July 30 complaint reads, \u201cyet do not have a complete physical presence (from cultivation through sale) in Ohio.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Along with Great Lakes, the plaintiffs suing the state include Fifty West Brewing, Athens Beverage, Seventh Son Brewing, Rhinegeist, Wellness of Willoughby, Delta Beverages, Crescent Canna, Cheech and Chong\u2019s Beverages, Torch Drinks, Uncle Arnie\u2019s, Mile High Cure, Hometown Hero and Lifted Liquids.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Christopher Brown, a co-owner of Great Lakes Brewing, helped start Save Ohio Bevs, an advocacy group that hopes to drum up enough public support so he, and other brewers, can sell THC drinks in Ohio again. He’s also involved in the July lawsuit.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

All of these beverage makers and sellers stopped selling their THC drinks five months ago under the fear they could be criminally prosecuted. Senate Bill 56 formalized a wave of trepidation, amplified by Gov. Mike DeWine, around the fear that children had potentially unfettered access to intoxicating hemp products designed to look like candy\u2014as, last October’s press conference showed, Nerds, Gushers or Sour Patch Kids<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Great Lakes immediately pulled its Float Shoppe THC seltzer off the shelfs and taps. Great Lakes CEO Christopher Brown went as far as joining Save Ohio Bevs<\/a>, a grassroots campaign to convince the state it was doing more harm to small businesses than preventing bad. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, in Great Lakes’ case, throwing them a much-needed financial gain during a trying time for the alcohol industry in general.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEverything THC was like whipped cream on a sundae,\u201d Brown told Scene in April<\/a>. \u201cIt was all to profit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lawsuit, Brown told Crain\u2019s Cleveland, is a last-ditch effort stemming from that campaign. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have six-figure-digits of inventory sitting in another state we are sitting on because of this line-item veto,\u201d Brown told Crain\u2019s<\/a>, referring to S.B. 56. \u201cAll we ever wanted was the opportunity to go through regulation and make this the same as anything else in the alcohol category.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under current Ohio law, only licensed dispensaries, distributers and growers can manufacture or sell intoxicating hemp or weed products\u2014joints, gummies, tinctures, seltzers, and so on. All beverage makers listed in the July complaint deal with some sort of out-of-state entity, which they argue is necessary for keeping costs reasonable and turning a profit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What the beverage sellers want is mostly to ensure the state won\u2019t prosecute them at the felony level for doing what they did before March 20.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In court filings, the state argued against the timing of the suit, stating the beverage makers waiting four months to file didn\u2019t constitute an \u201cemergency.\u201d\u00a0The state also argued it would be more fitting to hear the results of a suit filed last October<\/a>, Titan Logistics Group LLC v. Tischler<\/em>, before a decision is made on this one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Subscribe to Cleveland Scene newsletters.<\/a>

Follow us:\u00a0Apple News<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Google News<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0NewsBreak<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Reddit<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Instagram<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Facebook<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0| Or sign up for our\u00a0RSS Feed<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Great Lakes Brewing has joined 13 other beverage manufacturers and sellers in suing the state under the belief that its weed laws unconstitutionally bar them from\u00a0sourcing and selling THC drinks. When Senate Bill 56 went into effect on March 20, it created a new ecosystem for any business interested in selling anything tied to marijuana […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":327529,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","apple_news_api_created_at":"2026-08-07T01:03:47Z","apple_news_api_id":"b73fd216-6102-4fe9-8eac-84135bcb8bca","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2026-08-07T01:03:48Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/Atz_SFmECT-mOrIQTW8uLyg","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":["https:\/\/news-api.apple.com\/sections\/09551bb6-65e4-48a4-92e6-844c5c570ad6"],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"newspack_collection_is_cover_story":false,"newspack_collection_post_order":0,"_newspack_byline_active":false,"_newspack_byline":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"A complaint filed in federal court by Great Lakes and 13 other beverage sellers alleges the state is violating their constitutional rights by not allowing them to import hemp products to make their beverages.","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[117,106,113,23,107],"tags":[21809,1476,1049,471],"newspack_collection_taxonomy":[],"newspack_collection_section":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[134],"class_list":["post-333588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cannabis","category-cleveland-news","category-drink-news","category-news","category-ohio-news","tag-christopher-brown","tag-great-lakes-brewing","tag-lawsuits","tag-marijuana","entry"],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\nGreat Lakes Brewing Joins Suit Against Ohio in Fight Over THC Drinks - Cleveland Scene<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" 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Ohio Senate Bill 56\u00a0allows five milligram THC beverages to be manufactured, distributed, and sold until Dec. 31, 2026.\u00a0The bill also says that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Cannabis"","block_context":{"text":"Cannabis","link":"https:\/\/www.clevescene.com\/category\/topic\/cannabis-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Two packages of THC drinks.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.clevescene.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG_6319-1024x768-1.jpeg?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.clevescene.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG_6319-1024x768-1.jpeg?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.clevescene.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG_6319-1024x768-1.jpeg?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.clevescene.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG_6319-1024x768-1.jpeg?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":326858,"url":"https:\/\/www.clevescene.com\/news\/ohio-news\/today-is-the-last-day-to-buy-thc-beverages-at-stores-bars-in-ohio\/","url_meta":{"origin":333588,"position":2},"title":"Today is the Last Day to Buy THC Beverages at Stores, Bars in Ohio","author":"Mark Oprea","date":"March 19, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Fans of THC gummies, edibles and hemp drinks, take note: Today is your last day to stock up at your favorite corner store, bar or brewery. 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