The Texas Senate has authorised a invoice that hashish advocates and stakeholders say would successfully eradicate the state’s hemp trade, prohibiting consumable merchandise derived from the plant that comprise any quantity of THC.
This comes as a brand new ballot reveals overwhelming public assist for protecting consumable hemp merchandise authorized, whereas strictly regulated.
With the backing of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R)—who held a press convention criticizing the hemp market on Wednesday after visiting shops that promote cannabinoid merchandise—the hemp ban laws from Sen. Charles Perry (R) handed the total chamber in a 24-7 vote.
Under the invoice, solely non-intoxicating CBD and CBG gadgets may very well be bought, regardless that hemp with as much as 0.3 % THC by dry weight was legalized on the federal degree in 2018. Supporters argue that re-criminalizing hashish with any traces of THC is important to shut a loophole within the state’s personal hemp legislation that’s allowed for the proliferation of companies promoting intoxicating merchandise.
“For those that argue that this should just be more regulation and tax, there’s not enough tax that we can collect that will deal with the behavioral health issues and the addictions that we currently face,” Perry stated on the Senate flooring. “It would be in the billions. It’s unenforceable because every day a new product hits the shelf that was at the whim of a chemist.”
“What they have created and what they’re doing is akin to K2 and Spice and bath salts of the past that we as a legislature voted out of existence as soon as possible,” he stated. “The effect of what this drug is doing to the people that are involved in it—contrary to what you hear—is devastating lives. It’s generational. It is creating psychosis. It’s creating paranoia.”
Senators authorised a collection of amendments from the sponsor on the ground on Monday, together with one that will require all consumable hemp merchandise to be examined and federal Drug Enforcement Administration- (DEA) licensed labs primarily based in Texas.
Another Perry modification that was adopted mandates that consumable hemp merchandise be registered with the state Department of State Health Services (DSHS). Each product registration would carry a $500 charge, they usually couldn’t couldn’t comprise any non-cannabinoid mood-altering elements or components. It can be a Class B misdemeanor to promote an unregistered product.
The physique additionally handed an modification to make it a felony offense for to function a hemp manufacturing or retail enterprise and not using a license or allow.
Senators rejected an modification from a Democratic member that will have struck language making solely CBD and CBG consumable merchandise authorized whereas sustaining the core regulatory provisions of the invoice.
Also, as amended in a Senate committee, DSHS would even be tasked with updating its testing requirements to make sure that any hemp being marketed comprises no THC, together with pure delta-9 THC and artificial cannabinoids equivalent to delta-8 THC.
Hemp companies would additionally want to offer written consent authorizing Texas regulators and legislation enforcement to conduct compliance inspections.
The bill would moreover add practically a dozen felony offenses to state statute for non-compliant actions, together with advertising and marketing hemp merchandise in a means that’s interesting to youth, possessing with intent to distribute hemp that comprises cannabinoids apart from CBD and CBG and delivering intoxicating hashish merchandise.
“Let me make it clear: There are lots of issues that we discuss between the Senate and the House, and sometimes you have policy differences. You work those differences out. This is not one of those bills,” the lieutenant governor, who serves as presiding officer of the Senate, stated forward of the vote. “This is a bill that we have to ban THC and shut all of these stores down.”
Patrick made the feedback after paying “surprise” visits to a number of hemp enterprise, which he described as one in every of his newest “on-the-street investigative reports.”
One of these companies, the Austin-based Happy Cactus, stated in a press launch on Wednesday that the official’s go to merely underscored that the Texas hemp trade is complying with rules and proactively deterring youth entry. Patrick was ID’d on the door, and he was additionally knowledgeable that had been no merchandise containing extra quantities of THC below state legislation.
“We are proud of our team here at Happy Cactus. They handled the visit according to the best practices of Texas hemp retailers and with professionalism and respect,” co-owner Todd Harris stated. “We are proud to provide a legal product that helps many people in our community, including veterans and seniors.”
Last month, I paid a shock go to to a lottery retailer operated by a courier service owned by the sports activities betting firm DraftKings. Within every week, the Texas Lottery Commission immediately banned all courier companies, and the Texas Rangers launched a broad-scope investigation into… pic.twitter.com/llsCn4uhfQ
— Office of the Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick (@LtGovTX) March 19, 2025
Following Patrick’s press conference on Wednesday, the Texas Cannabis Policy Center put out an announcement decrying the occasion as “filled with alarmist rhetoric and unfounded claims, ignored real solutions that would effectively regulate cannabis and ensure consumer safety.”
“Concerns about semi-synthetic THC can be directly addressed through regulatory enforcement and by legalizing natural cannabis,” Heather Fazio, director of the group, stated. “It is Texas’s commitment to prohibition that has created this market for converted cannabinoids in the first place.”
“If lawmakers are serious about protecting consumers, the logical step is to legalize and properly regulate botanical cannabis with naturally occurring THC, rather than enacting broad bans that drive demand for illicit alternatives,” she stated.
That’s evidently what a majority of Texans need to see, in keeping with a survey that was collectively launched by Bayou City Hemp Company, Hemp Beverage Alliance and the U.S. Hemp Roundtable.
The ballot discovered that 68 % of Texas voters again protecting the hemp market intact, whereas nonetheless making certain that it’s tightly regulated. That consists of 80 % of Democrats, 72 % of independents and 52 % of Republicans.
“As the legislature considers Senate Bill 3, the Baselice & Associates poll confirms that voters across party lines support a well-regulated hemp market—not prohibition,” Jonathan Miller, basic counsel at U.S. Hemp Roundtable, stated. “The responsible path forward isn’t an outright ban, which would drive products underground and create unnecessary risks to public health.”
“Instead, the legislature should enact thoughtful regulations that prioritize consumer safety, ensure product transparency, and maintain Texas’ leadership in the fast-growing hemp industry,” he said.
While Perry’s hemp ban invoice superior via the Senate, its prospects are less certain in the House, the place differing regulatory laws is pending.
The lieutenant governor lately emphasised a survey end result displaying that greater than half (55 %) of Texans need the state to rein its largely unregulated marketplace for hemp-derived THC. But he concurrently ignored the survey’s different findings: that even more Texans want the state to legalize and regulate marijuana for each medical and grownup use.
Meanwhile in Texas, a district decide final month dominated {that a} native marijuana decriminalization legislation authorised by Dallas voters final yr can proceed to be carried out— denying a request from the Republican state attorney general that sought to quickly block the reform as a lawsuit proceeds.
Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) had filed a lawsuit with the intent to invalidate the legislation simply weeks after the November vote. It’s one in every of a number of examples of the state official making an attempt to leverage the court docket system to reverse native hashish reform efforts.
Numerous Texas cities have enacted native decriminalization legal guidelines in recent times, and, final January, the legal professional basic equally sought to dam the reform in Austin, San Marcos, Killeen, Elgin and Denton.
State district judges dismissed two of the lawsuits—which argue that state legislation prohibiting marijuana preempts the native insurance policies—in Austin and San Marcos. The metropolis of Elgin reached a settlement, with the native authorities declaring that decriminalization was by no means carried out there regardless of voter approval of the initiative.
Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has lashed out towards the municipal hashish reform efforts.
“Local communities such as towns, cities and counties, they don’t have the authority to override state law,” the governor said last May “If they want to see a different law passed, they need to work with their legislators. Let’s legislate to work to make sure that the state, as a state, will pass some of the law.”
He stated it could result in “chaos” and create an “unworkable system” for voters in particular person cities to be “picking and choosing” the legal guidelines they need abide by below state statute.
Abbott has beforehand stated that he doesn’t believe people should be in jail over marijuana possession—though he mistakenly steered on the time that Texas had already enacted a decriminalization coverage to that finish.
That stated, low-level marijuana possession would be decriminalized in Texas if a brand new invoice filed final week by a key House chief is enacted.
Paxton had used extra inflammatory rhetoric when his workplace introduced that it was suing the 5 cities over their native legal guidelines decriminalizing marijuana, vowing to overrule the “anarchy” of “pro-crime extremists” who advocated for the reform.
Meanwhile, Rep. Joe Moody (D)’s marijuana decriminalization invoice for the 2025 session is the latest of nearly two dozen cannabis-related proposals filed so far in Texas for the present legislative session. Various different measures would legalize adult-use marijuana, prohibit sure hemp-derived merchandise, take away felony penalties for hashish possession and modify the state’s present medical marijuana legal guidelines, amongst others.
Moody sponsored a similar marijuana decriminalization bill last legislative session, in 2023. That measure, HB 218, handed the House on an 87–59 vote however later died in a Senate committee.
The House had already passed earlier cannabis decriminalization proposals through the two earlier legislative classes, in 2021 and 2019. But the efforts have consistently stalled in the Senate amid opposition from the lieutenant governor.
Photo courtesy of Kimzy Nanney.
Marijuana Moment is made attainable with assist from readers. If you depend on our hashish advocacy journalism to remain knowledgeable, please think about a month-to-month Patreon pledge.
