At the Fourth of July barbecue this weekend, Americans are more likely than ever to crack open a pot, rather than a beer.
Pot has long been associated in the United States with hippies and stoners fueling pungent joints.
Now — or at least until an impending federal law puts the hammer down on the trend later this year — many Americans are getting a more socially acceptable buzz around the dinner table or out on the patio in the form of THC-infused drinks sold in mainstream supermarkets.
Hosting a brunch for friends at her coastal home in North Carolina, Cecilia Pfaff, a small business owner, laid out an array of drinks on the kitchen counter.
There was beer. There was summer. There were mimosas.
And there was also a large, frosted glass bottle of Willie’s Remedy+ with a label that read “Leaved Hemp…High Dose. Social Tonic.”
The beautiful bottle contained no alcohol, but had 170 mg of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) – the chemical key to marijuana’s intoxicating effects. That’s 10 mg per serving.
“Almost everyone I know — they’re all professionals — is taking a THC-derived product in some form,” Pfaff told AFP in between taking chiches out of the oven.
Across the kitchen, one such pro, Pat Clougherty, poured a fingerful of the cloudy liquor, which had been bought at the local supermarket, into a rocks glass.
“It’s replaced a lot of what we drink at night,” the pharmaceutical salesman said of his and his wife’s drinking habits. “It used to be red wine or beer, but we only pour a few of those.”
“You don’t wake up feeling it as much,” Cougherty said, referring to hangovers.
– The new stairs –
In 2025, polling firm Gallup said only 54 percent of Americans drink alcohol — the lowest number since it began asking the question in 1939.
In contrast, market research firm Euromonitor says sales of cannabis drinks are exploding as more products migrate from specialty shops to mainstream stores.
Trent Mooring started the THC-infused liquor brand Kaya in the nearby town of Kinston in 2024, expanding on his successful craft beer and alcoholic seltzer business.
“Sales have tripled over the past year,” Mooring told AFP, noting that a major supermarket chain agreeing to carry the products had fueled the growth.
Peter Hamilton of Euromonitor told AFP that “his firm’s valuation of the industry grows from $238 million in 2023 to approximately $720 million in 2025 and is estimated to exceed $1 billion in retail sales in 2026”.
That is unless Congress brings the legal high ground back to earth.
– Congress ends the party –
Recreational marijuana is classified as an illegal drug under federal law, even though it has been legalized in many individual states.
However, products derived from hemp — the cannabis plant but with lower THC content — have largely been federally legal since a 2018 law change.
Critics argue that the amendment passed by Congress was intended to encourage the market for hemp-derived textiles and non-intoxicating foods.
Instead, it opened the floodgates for innovative products that aim to deliver highs by concentrating or extracting THC from hemp into potent drinks, candies, vapes and more.
In late 2025, the Republican-controlled Congress changed the law once again so that as of November 12, 2026, no product will be allowed to contain more than 0.4 mg of THC per container — far less than the 5 mg and 10 mg in many common products.
“It’s going to crush the (THC) liquor industry,” Mooring said.
Industry groups — including the National Restaurant Association and Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America — are pressing Congress to change the law once again.
Mooring argued for keeping THC products legal but bringing them under regulation, similar to the rules for alcohol.
“They have to figure something out,” Mooring said.
