Shops selling THC-containing hemp products proliferated statewide after both Congress and the Texas Legislature approved the sale of hemp crops. Credit: Shutterstock / rblfmr

Texas’ hemp businesses are lobbying against a bill in the Texas Legislature that would prevent their products from containing THC — a ban they say endangers a growing $8 billion industry and puts thousands of jobs at risk.

At the same time, leaders of the state’s officially recognized medical marijuana companies say it’s high time for lawmakers to rein in the unregulated hemp market. Those medical cannabis providers are simultaneously lobbying lawmakers to expand their access to patients.

Senate Bill 3, authored by State Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, would bar the sale of all consumable hemp products carrying THC, the compound in cannabis that gets people high. The ban would apply to a range of products, including gummies, vapes and infused beverages.

Violators would face up to a year in jail for carrying such items and sentences of up to 10 years for producing them.

Backers and detractors of SB3 trace the roots of the current debate back to 2018 and 2019.

In 2018, Congress approved the Agriculture Improvement Act, which among other things legalized hemp. The following year, the Texas Legislature approved House Bill 1325, authorizing the production and sale of industrial hemp crops and products, which may include trace amounts of delta-8, a form of THC.

Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a major proponent of SB 3, last December accused hemp retailers of exploiting loopholes in HB 1325 to pump up the amount of THC found in hemp and “sell life-threatening, unregulated forms of THC to the public.”

“These stores not only sold to adults, but they targeted Texas children and exposed them to dangerous levels of THC,” Patrick said in a press statement.

Expanding industry

Texas’ hemp industry is valued at around $8 billion and supports an estimated 50,000 workers and 8,500-plus retailers, according to the Texas Hemp Business Council (THBC). Officials with the trade group said the state’s proposed ban threatens to sandbag a growing industry.

THBC co-founder Cynthia Cabrera said hemp-business owners have invested heavily into developing enterprises that generate an estimated $267 million in annual sales-tax revenue for the state.

“Prohibition is a failed concept. How do you solve anything by banning it?” Cabrera said. “If you want to expand a marijuana program, that’s great, but not at the expense of 50,000 jobs and six years worth of labor and work on the small business side.”

Jim Higdon, co-founder of Cornbread Hemp, is traveling to Texas and other states to directly address legislative proposals targeting his industry. He warns that passage of SB 3 would make it a felony to ship full-spectrum hemp products such as his straight to consumers.

While SB 3 supporters say they want to prevent children and teenagers from accessing hemp-derived consumables, Higdon said women over age 50 make up a majority of Cornbread Hemp’s clientele.

”Texas lawmakers are about to wake up and make angry a bunch of women with expendable income — and [they’re] not going to like seeing their e-commerce get shut down,” he said.

Controls needed?

Both Higdon and Cabrera think SB 3 faces an uphill battle in the Texas House, where legislators’ concerns over individual rights and a free market may keep them from supporting an outright ban on THC-containing hemp products.

While Patrick, who controls the agenda of the Texas Senate, has been leading the charge on SB 3, Higdon said it’s intriguing that Gov. Greg Abbott has so far avoided weighing in on the topic in a meaningful way.

“To hear the governor kind of not warmly embrace the notion, it sends a message to me that not everyone’s on board with a ban,” Higdon added.

But Nico Richardson, chief executive officer of Austin-based Texas Original, one of only three medical marijuana dispensary companies operating in Texas, said some kind of comprehensive regulation is needed in the hemp industry.

”Here, right now, you can buy delta-9 edibles in 15,000 milligrams in a package or even 1,000 milligrams in a package,” Richardson said. ”In California, a legal serving size is 10 milligrams. You can’t go above 100 milligrams in a package, and that’s because there’s actual oversight and regulation to make sure they’re not selling dangerously intoxicating products.”

Richardson expressed worry that THC vapes and edibles are falling into the hands of school-age children. Texas Education Agency data shows that nearly 34,800 students statewide were caught with pot or THC products during the 2023-2024 school year, an increase in the numbers recorded before hemp was legalized in Texas.

Richardson said regulation for the hemp industry beyond basic age limits is overdue. He also disputes claims that reining in the business will harm Texas-based producers.

“I would say nearly all hemp products being sold in Texas are manufactured and grown out of Texas,” he said.

For its part, Texas Original is concentrating on supporting Senate Bill 1505, another piece of legislation penned by

SB 3’s author. That proposal would allow legally approved medical pot providers to store prescription products overnight at their satellite locations.

Under current law, the items can only be stored at the companies’ headquarters, limiting their ability to serve customers statewide.

Like SB 3, SB 1505 is currently pending in the Texas Senate Committee on State Affairs.

Cornbread Hemp’s Higdon said an ideal compromise to protect minors while allowing the industry to flourish would be to establish some reasonable regulations with a specific focus on THC-infused beverages.

Cabrera also said legislators could focus on establishing child-resistant packaging requirements and place age limits on customers with an exemption for veterans between the ages of 18 and 21. Hemp industry officials maintain that veterans rely on their products to deal with PTSD.

“I’m cautiously optimistic that reason and rationality will rule the day,” Cabrera said.

Subscribe to SA Current newsletters.

Best of San Antonio Nominations are Now Live

A Texas bill would ban THC-containing hemp products, but its future is far from certain

Related Stories