A special session of the Texas state Legislature ended on Wednesday night without lawmakers passing a blanket ban on hemp-derived THC products.
The failure of Senate Bill 6, which would have outlawed all hemp products with any “detectable amount of any cannabinoid,” means a major reprieve for a state market worth an estimated $5.5 billion.
But with Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick vowing to revisit what’s become a signature issue for him and other powerful law-and-order-minded Republicans, it also sets up a fight bound to resume when the Legislature returns to Austin.
Senate Bill 6 passed the state Senate before stalling in a House that was roiled by Democratic lawmakers’ fleeing of the state to delay a controversial redistricting vote.
“My position remains unchanged; the Senate and I are for a total THC ban,” Patrick posted on X late Wednesday.
Hemp advocates celebrated the win while also acknowledging certain conflict ahead.
“The message is clear: Texans want hemp,” the Texas Hemp Business Council posted on X on Thursday.
“And we’re not going down without a fight.”
Texas hemp-derived THC ban proposal likely to return
It’s still possible for Gov. Greg Abbott, who called the special session in part to pursue a hemp-THC ban, to summon lawmakers back to the state Capitol for yet another go at a ban.
Though it was Abbott who unexpectedly vetoed a hemp ban lawmakers passed in June, the governor in a July interview said lawmakers “must continue to criminalize marijuana in the state of Texas.”
Among the products still legal in Texas are hemp-derived THC edibles, drinks and so-called “THCA flower,” which most observers acknowledge is marijuana claiming federal Farm Bill protections.
Like many other states, Texas’ enormous appetite for hemp-derived THC products emerged after the 2018 Farm Bill legalized hemp production nationwide.
Despite wide acknowledgement that the subsequent emergence of intoxicating hemp-derived products was a mistake, Congress has yet to take action.
That’s left it up to individual states to ban or regulate hemp-derived products.
But Texas’ ban on hemp-derived vapes is live
Separately, a widespread ban on vapes that passed in the spring went into effect on Sept. 1.
That ban outlaws vaporizer products containing cannabinoids that do not comply with the Texas Compassionate Use Program (TCUP), Texas’ medical marijuana law.
Meanwhile, medical cannabis access is set to expand under new rules permitting 12 more businesses to cultivate and sell cannabis oil and adding many more qualifying conditions for patients.
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