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This week, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott may end up signing into law one of the most ridiculous bills to have ever made it through the Lone Star State’s lawmaking process, which is really saying something. Over the weekend, the state Legislature finalized its approval of a proposed law that would forbid sales of products that feature any amount of THC—the chemical compound in cannabis that gets you high. Senate Bill 3 would not just mandate a full-blown ban on recreational marijuana; it would also decimate the state’s thriving hemp sector, ravaging farms and small businesses that have established a multibillion-dollar local industry from growth and sales of goods that make use of this flexible, multipurpose plant.

This initiative—which is widely unpopular even within conservative Texas—is the outgrowth of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s careerlong reefer-madness crusade. Surveys estimate that up to 50,000 jobs within the sector are at risk, along with billions of dollars in sales-tax revenue for the state. It also ignores the regulatory and safety requests from Texas’ own hemp growers, in favor of measures that punish them outright. There’s a reason hundreds of citizens showed up to the Capitol to testify against the new restrictions, and that even conservative talk-radio hosts have railed against S.B. 3. Not only would it be a setback for marijuana legalization in general, but it would inflict significant pain upon the locals who’ve benefited from the state’s hemp products, whether they’re small-shop owners who sell CBD drinks or customers who consume hemp products to manage physical pain.

Industrial hemp—which tends to contain very little THC—has been used for over 10,000 years as a base material for things like ropes, clothes, construction materials, and soil decontamination. Despite the plant’s wide-ranging benefits and applications, hemp’s status as a cannabis-family crop put it within the sights of Richard Nixon’s War on Drugs, and its cultivation was made federally illegal in 1970. As my colleague Hannah Docter-Loeb has written, the 2018 update to the federal farm bill struck down the ban for hemp products that contain less than 0.3 percent of THC, allowing farmers and retailers to legally grow and sell it. (The previous farm-bill reauthorization, under the Obama administration, allowed certain farmers and institutions to cultivate hemp for research purposes.)

This is why, not long after the most recent farm bill, you saw a rush of hemp-derived products, in smoke shops across the country, that did not feature intoxicating levels of THC but contained all sorts of other cannabis compounds, like CBD and delta-8. And although these spinoffs were soon crowded out of markets whose states had legalized weed altogether, the combustible-hemp stocks remained popular in states that remained sticklers on recreational ganja, like Texas. Some medical marijuana has been allowed, under exacting conditions, for about 10 years now, thanks to Abbott’s approval of the 2015 Compassionate Use Act and the government’s subsequent eligibility expansions.

Possession of psychoactive cannabis proper has been decriminalized in some Texas cities—though not because of the Abbott administration. Last year, Joe Rogan raged against state Attorney General Ken Paxton for suing five cities, including Rogan’s adopted home of Austin, after they held successful decriminalization referendums. In November, Paxton also sued Dallas after its residents overwhelmingly voted to decriminalize possession. Because of this aggressive litigation, some Texas cities are refusing to implement voter-approved marijuana reforms, fearing that Paxton will sue them too.

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Abbott’s deputy, Patrick, has long claimed that the 2018 farm bill and the state’s subsequent Hemp Farming Act have fueled an out-of-control, illicit market for hemp products that violates federal restrictions and exposes children to dangerous levels of THC. The act did not impose an age restriction on consumable-hemp purchases, but the way Patrick and Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller have been tackling this issue has been nothing less than grievance fueled, opportunistic, and nonsensical. Academic experts have repeatedly emphasized that hemp legalization and regulation has not unduly exposed Texas kids to THC, and that banning the products will likely fuel a much less safe underground black market. Nevertheless, according to Texas Public Radio, Miller and Patrick have kept up a fearmongering campaign by citing products “that have three to four times the THC content which might be found in marijuana purchased from a drug dealer” (a common, and unfounded, public statement from Patrick) and “reports from parents of second and third-graders getting access to THC products,” featuring no specifics.

It’s such a personal mission for Patrick, in fact, that he threatened to call a special session of the Texas Legislature over the issue, even though his boss and the Republicans in the state House have never considered this a priority. (In a truly cynical move, Patrick managed to get dozens of Texas Democrats—whose state party usually endorses legalization—to back the THC ban by promising to consider some of their legislative priorities in turn, outmatched as those Dems are by the GOP’s local supermajority.) The lieutenant governor also resisted members of his own party who desire to expand access to medical-marijuana prescriptions, before announcing on Sunday that he had made a deal to broaden the list of medical conditions that would qualify a given patient for doctor-prescribed low-THC treatments.

To be clear, there are legitimate concerns about sales of products that may surpass the federal hemp-THC limit, as well as the resultant impacts on business from licensed cannabis stores that have abided by regional rules and regulations. Nevertheless, the panic has fueled a policy environment that has escalated from banning certain untested cannabinoids to crafting far-reaching hemp restrictions that penalize many small-business owners, reduce state sales-tax revenue, and set up confusing guidelines as to what products may actually be sold.

Some proposed restrictions have been defeated in states like Missouri and Florida thanks to opposition, but states like California, Arizona, Alabama, New Jersey, and New York have pressed on with varying restrictions on sales licenses and online retail. Worst of all, cuts to federal agencies like the Department of Agriculture have stymied ongoing hemp-research projects that would have clarified how derivative products should be considered.

There is, at least, a small bit of good news for Texans: Greg Abbott has still not signaled whether he is likely to sign the THC ban into law. If he does, however, the Lone Star State’s hemp will cease to flower.

“}]] Despite popular support and economic risks, state leaders are pushing harsh new restrictions on cannabis products.  Read More  

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