After his decade-old kombucha business closed in 2024, Adrian Larrea turned his attention to a different beverage market. Alcohol sales were declining, creating an opportunity in THC drinks. He cofounded the Raleigh-based HAZE, which he says produced the first delta-9 THC drink in the Triangle. Hemp’s hottest niche has grown almost exponentially since then, and Larrea is confident that won’t change.
“Our federal government and our state government, they know how to regulate drinks,” Larrea said. “We’ve been doing it since Prohibition, and they know how to make their money.”
The Assembly talked to Larrea about the challenges his operation has faced.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
The Assembly: From a legal perspective, how are THC beverages different from other hemp products?
Larrea: Beverages operate under a different view of what the law is. [Beverage producers are] just focused on the legal language of 0.3% THC by dry weight. [With hemp flower], when you burn it, it goes from THCA to delta-9, and it’s really gray because of how the process works and what’s legal versus not legal. With the drink, it’s more straightforward because it’s just based on how much delta-9 you put in a product.
What challenges have you faced in scaling your operation?
Every state has different rules and regulations. Things are constantly changing. For example, right when we were about to start a big fundraising process to get capitalized properly, the [federal ban] hit, and that lost the investors’ confidence really quickly. It changes your ability to work with different partners, and it also changes your planning and strategy. Instead of doing this 5,000-case run that I want to do, I’m not going to be able to—because if I have product left over, that product could be illegal.
What sort of regulations would you like to see?
We want this to be regulated properly, for it to be age-gated properly, for the testing requirements to be standardized to make sure that the safest, best products are out there, to bring the products out of the hands of the illicit market, where things can’t be controlled. We don’t let bootleggers make moonshine anymore.
But like, hey, let’s be for real, guys. Alcohol is not the healthiest thing for humans, but we’ve built our entire society around it. It’s at every bar, restaurant, grocery store, place that you stop. It’s in front of people’s faces—and, oh yeah, it kills a lot of people and creates a lot of disease. We expect people to be able to use responsibly as part of everyday life as an adult. And that’s all we’re asking for.
