Last call for THC at KC liquor stores
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Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
Local liquor stores like Gomer's Fine Wine and Spirits are racing to unload THC gummies and other intoxicating hemp products before Missouri makes selling most of them a felony.
Why it matters: If you've been picking up THC gummies and similar products at the liquor store, that largely ends next month. Once his shelves empty, Gomer's manager Corey Spaulding says he won't restock them.
Catch up quick: The 2018 Farm Bill legalized hemp with low concentrations of delta-9 THC, helping create a market for intoxicating hemp-derived products sold outside licensed marijuana dispensaries.
- Missouri's House Bill 2641, signed in April, makes violations a class D felony punishable by a $5,000 fine per transaction, effective Nov. 12. A federal ban follows on Dec. 11.
Zoom in: Spaulding says suppliers aren't taking back unsold products, leaving the store to unload inventory before Missouri's new restrictions take effect.
- "That's going to be a whole aisle gone," he tells Axios. THC products account for about 9% of Gomer's monthly sales, he says. So he's offering his biggest THC customers closeout deals on their favorites while they last.
- Missouri DHSS specifically states that qualifying beverages aren't subject until Dec. 11. Boulevard says Berry Lane Quirk is hemp-derived. So the sentence lumps Quirk into the Nov. 12 consequence.
What they're saying: "It's really frustrating because the category hasn't failed. It's actually grown and helped build new customers," Spaulding says. He says the law punishes stores that were doing it right.
- Some customers use it for health reasons; Spaulding says one regular customer with terminal cancer told him the products help him sleep through the night.
- "Maybe a blanket ban isn't the best decision," he says, when lawmakers could have fixed the actual problem instead of "erasing something that is an asset to our residents."
Gomer's isn't alone: Royal Liquor on Southwest Boulevard told KSHB in 2024 that hemp products made up 10% to 15% of its sales.
The other side: Bill sponsor Rep. Dave Hinman (R-O'Fallon) says the law keeps these products away from kids and gave stores time to sell down.
- "There shouldn't be any confusion as to why," he tells Axios. "The federal government is outlawing the product. It's the right thing to do."
What's next: Hemp businesses sued in July, arguing the state law is too vague to follow, and U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool could rule before Nov. 12.
- A win would buy stores at most a month. The federal ban hits Dec. 11 either way.