Prairie State Hemp is set to close this week as the state’s crackdown on hemp products will effectively kill the business, a store manager told Illinois Times.
The final day of business for the retail store in downtown Springfield will be Nov. 11, as the state’s new regulations for all kinds of consumable hemp-derived products goes into effect Nov. 12.
Taylorville native Sam Brubaker started Prairie State Hemp as a wholesale business before opening a brick-and-mortar store in 2022. It was initially located on the north side of the Myers Building before relocating to 450 E. Jefferson St. on the ground floor of the historic St. Nicholas Building in October 2025.
Zeke Cermak, product manager at Prairie State Hemp, said a majority of the storefront’s sales are hemp-derived products that are outlined in the Illinois law taking effect, which comes one month prior to a federal change that will similarly limit how hemp-derived products with THC can be sold across the country.
“(About) 85% of revenue is being completely taken away by federal and state legislation,” Cermak said. “We’ve got a lot of enemies because we take from the market share of big cannabis and alcohol companies.”
Products that only contain non-intoxicating CBD are not affected.
Come Nov. 12, “any consumable or topical product containing more than 0.4 mg of total THC per container will no longer meet the definition of ‘hemp,’” according to an Illinois Department of Revenue informational bulletin reminding businesses of the change. “Only Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation licensed cannabis dispensaries may sell products containing more than 0.4 mg total THC per container.”
For reference, that means a drink containing 5 mg of THC would contain more than 12 times the legal limit of THC that non-dispensaries could sell.
Government officials say the regulations are intended to prevent minors from consuming such products.
For more information, the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation has a non-exhaustive fact sheet relaying more of the changes made by lawmakers earlier this year.
