A renewed push to ban intoxicating hemp-derived THC products in Texas – and outlaw an estimated $5.5 billion market, believed to be the nation’s biggest – advanced out of a state Senate committee this week.
And despite his June veto of an earlier proposed ban, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said this week he supports outlawing hemp products in Texas with more than three milligrams of THC.
Texas lawmakers are currently in Austin for a special legislative session Abbott called last month.
Texas ban on hemp-derived THC, THCA flower returns
Among the first bills introduced was Senate Bill 5 from state Sen. Charles Perry, who also authored the ban that passed the Legislature in the spring.
According to a legislative analysis, the bill would ban
- Any product with three or more milligrams of delta-9 THC.
- So-called THCA flower, by tweaking the definition of THC under state law.
- “(A)ny artificial or synthetic cannabinoids,” which would capture most delta-8 and delta-10 THC products.
On Monday, the bill advanced out of a Senate committee on a unanimous 10-0 vote – and with Abbot’s support.
In an interview with Fox-4 that same day, Abbott said lawmakers “must continue to criminalize marijuana in the state of Texas” while also providing opportunities for hemp farmers.
“We need to have a highly regulated hemp industry to ensure that farmers are able to grow it and that hemp products that do not have an intoxicating level of THC in it can be sold in the marketplace,” Abbott told the television station.
‘This is turning Texas into a nanny state’
That’s despite opposition from the hemp advocates as well as organizations representing military veterans.
“This is turning Texas into a nanny state,” Mitch Fuller, a legislative affairs representative for the Texas Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), said during testimony Tuesday, according to the Texas Tribune.
And the issue appears to be creating dissent within the ranks of conservative Texas Republicans who feel the ban is part of a turn towards big government.
Texas state Rep. Brian Harrison, a self-described conservative Republican who worked in the Trump Administration, said in a post on X on Thursday: “If you’re fighting harder to ban hemp than you are to ban property taxes… you’re doing it wrong.”
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