Law enforcement officials say the hemp industry is not adequately regulated and the stores selling the products pose a risk to the community.
AUSTIN, Texas — A Texas House panel heard several hours of testimony on Wednesday on legislation that would ban consumable hemp products containing THC, the compound in cannabis that can get users high.
House Bill 5 is identical to the legislation the Texas Senate approved last month. It would ban the sale of consumable hemp products with THC while keeping non-intoxicating products like CBD and CBG products legal.
The hearing provided the first insight into the Texas House’s thinking on the issue, which had been the headline of the special session before being overshadowed by flood relief and redistricting. The lower chamber has tended to favor a more regulation-based approach, rather than an all-out ban.
Only the seven Republicans on the House Public Health Committee were present at Wednesday’s hearing. The Democrats on the panel are part of the contingent of House Democrats who have fled the state to block the lower chamber from voting on a proposed new congressional map that could give Republicans up to five new seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.
House Public Health Committee Chair State Rep. Gary VanDeaver (R-New Boston) said there are thousands of smoke shops across Texas, and some sell products that exceed legal THC levels.
“There have been countless reports of artificial and synthetic cannabinoids and their effects on the consumer. These products have become easily accessible at corner stores, liquor stores, vape shops, and THC stores,” VanDeaver said. “Some of these products are marketed in a way that is attractive to children or resemble other common food products, like candy.”
The bill would also ban the sale or marketing of consumable hemp products to anyone under 21, while adding new labeling and packaging requirements. It would also create new criminal penalties, making the manufacture or distribution of a controlled substance a third-degree felony, and labeling possession a Class C misdemeanor.
In addition to public testimony, the hearing featured several panels of invited witnesses, including representatives from law enforcement, academic experts and members of the hemp industry.
During the hearing, law enforcement officials advocated for a ban, while representatives from the hemp industry and the public argued that the ban would infringe on their individual rights.
“House Bill 5 addresses what we need to make it manageable to hold the illegal operators accountable,” Allen Police Chief Steve Dye said. “Right now, it’s the Wild West.”
Supporters of a ban shared stories of psychosis and other adverse health impacts they link to some THC products.
Lisa Flores said her daughter, a then 15-year-old freshman in high school, began having depression and panic attacks. Flores later discovered she was using vapes. It came to a head one night at 3 a.m. when she got a text message from her daughter asking for help.
“When I talked to her the next morning, she was having suicidal thoughts, so it spiraled down and down,” Flores said. “The more they use the THC, the deeper the depression and the social anxiety get, and they get caught into a cycle.”
Opponents say other legal drugs are far more dangerous.
“It’s pretty offensive when they say that we are that we’re all bad actors and that it’s an industry destroying families when it, you know, could be just a couple companies,” said Todd Harris, the owner of The Happy Cactus, which sells CBD and THC products in South Austin. “Just like with any industry, there are going to be some people with bad intentions.”
Members of the hemp industry don’t deny that the bad actors are a problem. Among the thousands of shops that have popped up across Texas, some sell products that exceed legal THC levels.
THC users, sellers and members of the hemp industry are pushing for stricter regulation rather than an outright ban.
“Bad actors have been selling smokables and synthetics with no guard rails, often targeting minors,” Benjamin Meggs, co-founder and CEO of Bayou City Hemp Company, said. “That’s why we are advocating for tough regulations like banning smokables and synthetics, restricting purchasing.”
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and other Texas lawmakers have expressed concern that products are being marketed and sold to minors, with little accountability.
At Wednesday’s hearing, police chiefs and Republican lawmakers questioned whether regulation is feasible.
“No amount of personnel or resources in a state this large, with thousands of locations, will ever be able to protect the health and safety of our citizens from these dangerous products,” Dye said.
Dye said there are already enough challenges and law enforcement does not have enough resources to regulate the level of THC in products properly. He said testing is too expensive for departments to conduct effectively.
For criminal charges, the products need to be tested to determine precisely what amount of THC is in them. Any concentration over 0.3% is not legal.
“It’s very costly. We had to test all of those products through a private lab because the DPS can’t handle the volume,” Dye said. “Some district attorneys and some counties won’t even prosecute the cases.”
Hawthorne said he believes the state should shy away from a stricter-regulation approach because it would be a challenge for law enforcement and legislators to keep up.
“We learned the hard way with those drug crises that we cannot chase after the attempts to regulate individual products, compounds, or concentrates every session because the illicit drug makers are always more nimble than the legislative process,” Hawthorne said.
In addition to the health and safety concerns, Dye also raised national security concerns, saying that groups with nefarious intentions could be involved in the Texas Hemp Industry.
“Our ongoing criminal investigations have discovered that millions of unexplained dollars are flowing through these establishments, and money is going to regions in the world and countries that are of significant concern to the national security of the United States,” he said.
Gov. Greg Abbott vetoed a similar bill passed during the regular session after intense public pressure. In his veto message, Abbott stated that he preferred regulation over a ban and advocated for a plan similar to how the state regulates alcohol. But Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who has led the charge on this issue, has not backed down from what has become one of his top legislative priorities.
A spokesperson for Abbott told KVUE that the governor supports banning the products for those under 21 and completely banning synthetic products. While the governor is OK with adults having access to regulated, non-intoxicating levels of hemp, he wants a cap of 3.0 milligrams total THC per serving.
Since 2019, products with 0.3% THC or less have been legal in Texas. Generally speaking, legal THC can be accessed in several forms, from the actual cannabis plant to THC-infused sodas.
The products began appearing after Texas approved a farming bill in 2019. House Bill 1325 established the Texas Health and Safety Code Chapter 443. It allows for the sale of consumable hemp products across the state that do not exceed 0.3% Delta-9 THC.
That law has led to the sale of hemp-derived Delta-8 THC and products that contain Delta-9 THC at 0.3% of the total weight, which can still be an intoxicating amount at a high ratio.
Since 2019, state lawmakers and law enforcement say some bad actors have taken advantage of the loophole in the law to sell intoxicating forms of THC.
Opponents argue that the ban would shutter hundreds of businesses and harm Texans who rely on these products. Particularly those who use them as an alternative to alcohol and opioids.
“HB 5 would wipe out legitimate businesses while creating a vacuum for illegal or unregulated sales,” Mark Hullings with Early Bird CBD in Austin said. “This is about preserving access to safe, low-dose wellness products for adults who want an alternative to alcohol or pharmaceuticals. A total ban won’t stop THC. It will just push it out of Texas, out of regulation and out of your control.”
Hullings said removing legal products from shelves would drive sales to the illegal market.
“If HB 5 passes, our customers who are upstanding citizens and responsible consumers will be criminals overnight,” Hullings said. “My customer will likely go back to the bar or liquor store. Buying from unregulated out-of-state websites means less safety, no age checks, and no Texas oversight.”
Harris said they only sell products with less than 50 milligrams of THC per serving. Harris said SB 3 would wipe out most of their sales. Many CBD products have small amounts of THC, so stores wouldn’t be able to sell them either. He said they serve roughly 10,000 customers per year.
“We would lose our ten employees plus me, my brother,” Harris said. “We would have to move to a different state to start another hemp company, or we would have to move to a different industry. We would have to break our leases, which we still have a couple of years on.”
For many lawmakers, this crackdown on the hemp industry is tied hand in hand with the expansion of the state’s medical cannabis program, the Texas Compassionate Use Program (TCUP).
During the regular session, lawmakers passed and Abbott signed House Bill 46, making more ailments eligible for low-THC cannabis. Those include chronic pain, traumatic brain injury, Crohn’s disease and patients in hospice or palliative care. It also permits more dispensing licenses and satellite stores to reach more patients.
It also adds more dispensary licenses, a significant criticism of the program currently, because patients may have to travel long distances to the few dispensaries in the state.
If Democrats don’t return to the Capitol by Friday, Republican leaders have threatened to end this current special session, which is slated to end August 19, and have Gov. Greg Abbott immediately call a new 30-day special session. If that happens, all bills, including HB 5, will need to go through the entire legislative process again in the new special session.
While Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and the Texas Senate have doubled and tripled down on their desire for an outright ban, other lawmakers have expressed a desire for a different approach, setting up a potential clash between the two chambers.