Hemp beverage volume grew 133% between 2024 and 2025. Case equivalents went from 692,000 to over 1.6 million. Points of distribution more than doubled. Retail accounts grew from 25,000 to 43,000. That's from the Hemp Beverage Alliance's Future of Drinking Report, released this week. What stands out isn't just the growth, it's the shape. Monthly volume is tracking beer and spirits seasonality, peaking in summer and at year-end. The fastest-growing dose segment is 6-10mg, overtaking 10mg-and-above, meaning consumers are choosing sessionable, social-occasion drinks over max-dose products. This is a category behaving like an established part of the adult beverage market, not a novelty. And mainstream retail agrees. Target started carrying hemp beverages in Texas stores in May. Albertsons is testing them at Jewel locations in Chicago this month. These are the biggest grocery chains in the country betting on the category, even with November 12 on the calendar. That's the disconnect. As HBA president Christopher Lackner put it, "Whether it's a liquor store or a distributor or a supplier of these products, this is a driver of economic success." A category growing 133% while every other adult beverage segment is flat or declining is not a regulatory nuisance, it's an economic engine. And 1.6 million case equivalents is the floor, not the ceiling, because most of that volume is still moving through fragmented, brand-by-brand distribution. Regulate it, tax it, but eliminating a category that consumers are clearly choosing over alcohol isn't protecting anyone. It's leaving money, jobs, and market share on the table.