THC drinks given away on lakefront prompting new questions

CHICAGO (WGN) — A lakefront giveaway of THC-infused drinks is focusing a new spotlight on cannabis-adjacent businesses in a state where marijuana is heavily regulated.

In late August, Seniorita Margaritas held a weekend-long giveaway of its THC products that was promoted online as a “beach takeover” and featured free samples offered-up to passers-by on the Chicago’s lakefront trail.

In addition to professional kiosks, a boat could be seen dragging a larger-than-life replica of the company’s neon green can in the water just off-shore.

“There’s so much illegal vending on park district property, they probably thought, ‘Hey why not? We can get away with it,'” Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd Ward) told WGN Investigates.

The Chicago Park District caught word of the event after it happened and immediately sent a cease-and-desist letter to an affiliated company warning the giveaway of THC-infused products on park land violated ordinances and may have run afoul of state law.

“They’re trying to grab onto the coattails of the legal cannabis industry, which is regulated and tested and produced in labs,” Hopkins said.

Representatives of Seniorita Margaritas, the firm that received the cease-and-desist letter, as well as an industry trade group, did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

The THC-infused drinks are advertised as lab tested and safe. They contain Delta-9, a chemically-altered cousin of the active ingredient in marijuana.

WGN has previously reported on the widespread availability of other similar products, including Delta-8 edibles. They’re sold at countless convenience stores and smoke shops in packaging that can closely resemble popular candy. Children have been hospitalized after obtaining the product.

“Many of these products are synthetic organic chemistry experiments,” said Christopher Hudalla of ProVerde Labs, which conducts chemical testing for the cannabis industry. “The only designation on there about where it comes from, it says: ‘Hemp-derived; but that’s a term that’s being mis-used and appropriated for a product that is more than likely not Hemp-derived.”

Gov. JB Pritzker (D-Illinois) supported efforts to regulate THC businesses; but the measure was blocked by his fellow democrats in January, reportedly at the urging of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson. Pritzker is now threatening to crackdown on the hemp business. 

“If the legislature and if the advocates for the hemp industry are unwilling to do it then we will take executive action,” Pritzker said in response to a question from WGN Investigates.