Mayor Brandon Johnson vetoed an ordinance that would have banned local smoke shops from selling intoxicating hemp products, providing relief to cannabis business owners in Chicago.

"Republicans, Democrats and independents alike understand that regulation is better than prohibition, and that good science takes time." By Mike Simpson, Lovewell Farms via Rhode Island Current At a moment when Americans across the political spectrum say they want evidence-based policy, Congress is on the verge of repeating a familiar mistake: banning first and studying later. Bipartisan legislation recently introduced in both the U.S. House and Senate would delay the impending federal ban on hemp-derived products. This is not to legalize anything new, but instead to give regulators, researchers and farmers time to do what Congress says it wants to do: Gather data, set clear rules and regulate responsibly.

Intoxicating hemp beverages have gotten another vote of confidence, this time from Sprouts Farmers Market, which is slated to become the first national grocery chain to offer the drinks starting next ...

Mayor Brandon Johnson has long backed hemp businesses, pointing to minority operators locked out of the state’s limited legal cannabis rollout. His veto — the second of his term — now puts him at odds...

Farmers, processors and regulators told the Senate Agriculture Committee a statutory shift of hemp provisions into Title 7 and clear rulemaking are needed to restore Vermont’s hemp supply chain, with witnesses citing an acreage drop from 886 acres to nine after regulatory changes.

Mayor Brandon Johnson on Friday vetoed an ordinance banning the sale of most intoxicating hemp-derived products in Chicago.

Streaming now at https://abc7.ws/484PqhJMayor Brandon Johnson said he is vetoing a Chicago City Council ordinance banning the sale of most intoxicating hemp ...

Mayor Brandon Johnson has long backed hemp businesses, pointing to minority operators locked out of the state’s limited legal cannabis rollout. His veto — the second of his term — now puts him at odds with City Council.

“We cannot claim to support equitable economic development while advancing policies that concentrate the market in the hands of a few large entities,” Johnson said.

Mayor Brandon Johnson on Friday vetoed an ordinance banning the sale of most intoxicating hemp-derived products in Chicago.

Mayor Brandon Johnson said the ban was too broad and punished “many of our small businesses who have been following the law and deserve to have a seat at the table,” including those owned by Black and...

CITY HALL — Chicago business owners who sell intoxicating hemp products will live to fight another day as Mayor Brandon Johnson vetoed a ban on their products Friday in a rare use of mayoral power. Johnson waited until his deadline day to veto the ban, passed 32-16 by the City Council last month. The nixed ban made significant exemptions for hemp-derived THC drinks, championed by the hospitality industry, but served as a death knell for local businesses propped up on selling highs from hemp edibles, vapes and flower in a workaround to the state’s limited marijuana licenses. Johnson’s veto is the second of his term, following his veto last year of a policy that would have given the Police Department power to enforce “snap curfews.” That was the first mayoral veto since 2006. The City Council can still override the mayor’s veto with a steep threshold of 34 votes, and hemp businesses face another existential threat with a federal ban passed in November. But that ban, which takes effect late this year, may be punted further and could be superseded by new city or state laws. Cannabis has long been federally illegal. Johnson, who has previously backed hemp businesses, wrote in his veto letter Friday that a city ban was “premature” ahead of the impending federal ban. “Any local hemp regulatory framework needs to both safeguard the health and wellbeing of residents, especially young people, support the stability and growth of Chicago’s small business community, and ensure that the enforcing departments have adequate capacity to conduct equitable enforcement,” Johnson wrote. THC-A pre-roll joints are among products that would be banned by April 1 after City Council passed an ordinance on Jan. 21, 2026. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago Jeremy Dedic, owner of hemp apothecary, speaks at a press conference on Feb. 12, 2026, urging Mayor Brandon Johnson to save their businesses by vetoing a City Council ban on their products. Credit: Charles Thrush/Block Club Chicago The budding hemp industry has formed business associations to back attempts by Johnson and some state Democrats to create safety regulations and tax their products rather than ban them. But Ald. Marty Quinn (13th), a veteran Southwest Side alderman and fierce hemp critic, had gotten furthest along in pulling the industry out of the gray area, banning hemp products in his own ward before taking it up citywide. Quinn’s push to snuff out hemp, which gained steam after the federal ban was passed, also has become a test of the City Council’s increasing independence from Johnson. Quinn has previously called intoxicating hemp “shady,” with products resembling popular candies marketed to children, which hemp business owners deny. Quinn said the industry grew out of a “loophole” to a federal farming bill allowing the mass production of hemp, which has small traces of psychoactive THC that can be extracted and concentrated. To override Johnson’s veto, Quinn would need two more supporters in City Council than he was able to gain in over a month of gathering votes. Hemp business owners held press conferences in recent weeks as part of last-ditch efforts to win Johnson over again, including one Thursday night at the South Loop location of Chi’Tiva, 1250 S. Michigan Ave., which markets itself as a “THC Lounge Dispensary Experience.” Jeremy Dedic, owner of Cubbington’s Cabinet, 2015 W. Roscoe St., a pet and people apothecary, said Thursday night that most of his products would be “eradicated” if Johnson didn’t veto the ban. “We would be a vacant storefront come April 1st if this nefarious ordinance passes,” Dedic said. “The ordinance is a form of prohibition which never works. What we need is smart regulation to protect consumer health and child safety.” Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th), who voted against Quinn’s ban, said Thursday that the ban only protected “big industry” while putting out small storefronts like Dedic’s. The United Center announced last month it would sell THC drinks at concerts shortly after the ban passed City Council with its carveouts allowing them. “Big industry is the problem,” Sigcho-Lopez said.”They do not like competition.” _This is developing story. Check back for updates._ * * * **Support Local News!** **Subscribe to Block Club Chicago, **an independent, 501(c)(3), journalist-run newsroom. Every dime we make funds reporting from Chicago’s neighborhoods. 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A key House committee chairman has unveiled the latest version of a large-scale agriculture bill—with provisions his office says will reduce "regulatory burdens for producers of industrial hemp." The proposed 2026 Farm Bill released on Friday by House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn Thompson (R-PA) would maintain the industrial hemp program at a time when the cannabinoid industry finds itself threatened by a pending recriminalization of most consumable cannabinoid products under separate legislation President Donald Trump signed into law last year. But for farmers growing hemp for industrial purposes such as fiber and grain, the latest iteration of the Farm Bill is being pitched as a source of industry relief, with policies allowing the U.S.

A fast-growing market built on hemp-derived cannabinoid products is about to face a federal reset. Over the past several years, consumer demand for...

An administrative law judge reversed the state Office of Cannabis Management’s in-person sales requirement for hemp-derived products such as edibles or beverages.

Members of the hemp industry in Chicago are calling on Mayor Brandon Johnson veto a ban on most intoxicating hemp-derived products.

Members of the hemp industry in Chicago are calling on Mayor Brandon Johnson veto a ban on most intoxicating hemp-derived products.

Town hall on hemp ban ordinance

An administrative law judge reversed the state Office of Cannabis Management’s in-person sales requirement for hemp-derived products such as edibles or beverages.