CITY HALL — A citywide ban on hemp products will advance to a final vote in front of the City Council, setting up a day that could make or break hundreds of local businesses selling the legally hazy highs.

Ald. Marty Quinn (13th) was met with jeers in a packed room of hemp business owners Wednesday afternoon as his proposed ordinance — which would put a sweeping ban on their products — passed 10-6 through the City Council’s Committee on License and Consumer Protection.

“These are shady operations,” Quinn said as the heckles rose to a roar.

The vote came after a heated public comment period where small business owners pleaded for City Council members to snuff out Quinn’s ban, with one going as far to say it would “put me out of business overnight.”

“Hemp isn’t the enemy,” said Rehaan Mirza, owner of Kizmah CBD, a smoke shop in Ukrainian Village. “It’s a lifeline for thousands of Chicagoans dealing with anxiety, chronic pain, insomnia and stress. It’s a growing economic sector that supports local jobs.”

Hemp-infused beverages promoted at Revolution Brewing, 3340 N. Kedzie Ave., Dec. 2, 2025. Credit: Charles Thrush/Block Club Chicago

Quinn’s proposed city ban would get out in front of a new federal ban set to take effect in November 2026. As currently written, the federal ban includes all products that concentrate hemp’s small traces of psychoactive THC. But hemp advocates are holding out hope that there’s time to instead regulate their industry. Marijuana has long been federally illegal.

“Restaurant and bar staff are already well-trained at carding patrons. … We welcome orders that would require the same for hemp beverages,” said Sam Toia, president of the Illinois Restaurant Association. “However, an outright ban will cause serious distress to an already struggling hospitality industry.”

The hospitality industry is an emerging hemp ally, with lobbyists warning Wednesday a fast-acting “blunt-force ban” would leave restaurants, bars and breweries stuck with piles of unsold THC drinks. Many establishments have gotten into the hemp beverage business as alcohol sales plunge.

Quinn banned hemp in his ward in January and has helped six alderman pass their own bans while Mayor Brandon Johnson’s efforts to regulate and tax hemp products have stalled. Ald. William Hall (6th), Johnson’s top ally on hemp, is now co-sponsoring Quinn’s ban.

On Wednesday, officials with the city’s Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection, managed by Johnson, tried again to convince alderpeople of an alternative that would age-gate hemp products to people 21 and older instead of banning them.

“A full ban of this magnitude is unprecedented to Chicago. The way it is presented right now is going to take a lot of manpower,” said Ivan Capifali, commissioner of the city’s business department. “We’ll have to test everything to see if it’s hemp or not.”

Hemp supporters packed the room on Dec. 3, 2025 as a City Council comittee advanced a measure that would ban their products. Credit: Mack Liederman/Block Club Chicago

Quinn, who has said he’s never been personally interested in cannabis, has found unlikely support from the state’s legal cannabis industry, which has been at odds with hemp businesses.

Edie Moore, owner of SWAY Dispensary in Northalsted, said intoxicating hemp products have “undercut the regulated market.”

But Moore said Quinn’s ban is too broad as written and could incidentally include products like CBD creams and oils.

Quinn would not commit to when he’d bring the ordinance before the full City Council, which next meets Wednesday.

“I’m not going to put something up that’s not going up to pass,” Quinn told Block Club after the meeting.

There were early signs of a challenge ahead for Quinn. Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) said his “primary concern” are hemp products that look like “Nerds and Doritos and Sour Patch Kids,” which he and other frequent hemp critics have said target children.

“I understand the demand for hemp-based beverages,” said Reilly, whose Downtown ward includes many bars and restaurants.

Ald. Nicholas Sposato (38th), one of the more conservative members of the City Council, said Wednesday’s meeting was a “rare time I came to a meeting not knowing what I was going to do.”

“I don’t dispute there’s bad actors out there. … But certainly, some people need this product,” Sposato said. “I’m probably one of them. I’m a guy in chronic pain. I never tried it. Maybe I should try it.”

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