Texas House Weighs How to Get Harsh on Hemp

A police chief compared the shops across Texas that sell hemp-derived products to candy stores or fireworks stands targeting children with bright-colored gummies and chips At the same House Committee on State Affairs hearing on Monday a Kentucky-based hemp seller reported various of their Texas customers are women over living in the suburbs Meanwhile the committee members there to discuss House Bill which would restrict nearly all consumable hemp products in Texas seemed unsure of the realities of the state s hemp industry as they stumbled through questioning about testing procedures the difference between synthetic and natural hemp and the properties of hemp-based products We re trying to straddle a recreational use versus a medicinal use mentioned Representative Dade Phelan the in recent months departed Republican House speaker Drawing the lines will be tough because we ve been doing this for almost three hours and I m still not sure what we re talking about For over hours legislators heard invited expert testimony and over members of the masses spoke on that bill and Senate Bill one of Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick s top priorities SB seeks to ban all hemp products with any tetrahydrocannabinol THC a psychoactive component of the hemp plant Right now hemp products with less than percent of THC are legal in Texas thanks to a law passed by the Legislature back in State Affairs Chairman Ken King s version HB is slightly more lenient than SB While the bill also bans synthetic THC and bulk consumable or smokable hemp products it would still allow drinkable hemp products with THC The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission which regulates the sale of beer and liquor in Texas would be put in charge of hemp beverages as well House Bill seeks to create a regulated hemp industry in Texas King commented at the hearing The unregulated arena is a inhabitants wellbeing hazard and it is our duty to protect Texas against harmful products HB like SB seeks to increase regulations on consumable hemp products that aren t otherwise made illegal including age restrictions for purchases required in-state product testing and registration with the Department of Constituents Safety Both bills have exceptions for the Compassionate Use Venture enacted in which provides access to low-THC cannabis for healthcare purposes for specific Texans Products containing cannabidiol CBD or cannabigerol CBG two non-psychoactive components of hemp would still be legal under both bills Members of the hemp industry like Katie Frazier who grows her own plants agreed with portions of HB that would add needed oversight but urged committee members not to prohibit bulk legal THC products a move that would effectively shut down businesses like hers House Bill may appear more reasonable than SB but it remains deeply harmful Frazier stated I want bad actors removed from this space but you don t clean up a room by setting it on fire Governor Greg Abbott signed a hemp legalization bill into law in signaling the start of a booming hemp industry in Texas Robin Goldstein a cannabis economist at the University of California-Davis stated he estimates the hemp industry in Texas to be worth about to billion He stated legalizing hemp products doesn t make them more common but makes products safer and better regulated That s an insidious side effect of prohibitions Goldstein noted in testimony With unregulated products you don t know what you re getting Susan Hays an attorney practicing cannabis law stated low doses of THC are non-intoxicating Consuming the plant as-is with its naturally occurring levels of THC is healthier than isolating certain compounds like CBD she reported this is known as the entourage effect in which the whole is greater than the sum of its parts She compared CBD products with low levels of THC to over-the-counter aspirin That s not going to make anybody high Hays narrated the committee It doesn t need to be over-regulated because over regulation means excess cost and that drives people back into the black and gray markets Chosen spectators questioned why drinkables were the only form of consumable allowed King the HB author disclosed that drinks as opposed to gummies are harder to mistake for a child s favorite The Panhandle Republican added that to effectively regulate THC products the state shouldn t take on more than it can handle We have an elephant here and trying to eat the elephant more than one bite at a time also causes chosen problems King reported King acknowledged his bill would harm businesses in Texas but reported it s worth the pain It ll certainly be negative because you re shrinking what can legally be produced and manufactured for consumption King reported But I do think at several point the regulatory milieu is going to exist we were looking for a way to start small with regulation and get it right Allen Police Chief Steve Dye spoke against the House bill as he reported the state should ban all THC to address enforcement issues of what constitutes legal THC and difficulties with testing He mentioned in Allen kids were streaming into dispensaries This plague is in every city and every town and state agencies will never have the materials to regulate explained Dye who is an outspoken supporter of the Senate s proposed ban Hays the cannabis lawyer brought a tincture her self-professed favorite sleeping gummies and a beverage with THC in it and upon request passed all three around to the state representatives like a class show-and-tell King assured the room he wouldn t pop any tops on the beverage Legislators then sought the next several questions with the slim purple can in hand The committee also spent several hours hearing from the constituents on and mostly against SB which is authored by Lubbock Republican Senator Charles Perry who also sponsored the hemp legalization bill several sessions ago Lieutenant Governor Patrick has made the Senate s THC ban bill one of his personal legislative crusades this session which included an TV news-style video analysis featuring his personal visit to an Austin THC retail shop where he was carded It s also proven divisive not just with those in the hemp industry but among fellow Republicans including Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller whose agency regulates hemp production in Texas Patrick ever the buzzkill of late threatened to force a special session if his THC ban doesn t pass The post Texas House Weighs How to Get Harsh on Hemp appeared first on The Texas Observer