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Bill To Ban Hemp Products With THC Is Filed In Texas House, As Governor Continues To Call For Regulations Instead

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As Texas’s special legislative session enters its second week, a Republican House member on Monday filed companion legislation to a Senate bill that would ban consumable hemp products with any detectable level of THC.

Meanwhile, Gov. Greg Abbott (R), who vetoed an earlier version of the ban during the state’s regular legislative session, is continuing to call for a compromise that would allow small amounts of THC in hemp products.

“We want to make sure adults still have the liberty to be able to have access to non-intoxicating hemp-based products,” Abbott said in an interview with The Texan last week.

He said, however, that “as long as

are below three milligrams of THC content, they are non-intoxicating.”

Under SB 5, which a Senate committee unanimously advanced last week and is set to be taken up by the full chamber in coming days, consumable hemp products with any amount of THC would be illegal. Even mere possession would be punishable as a Class B misdemeanor, carrying up to 180 days in jail and a $2,000 fine.

Only products with two specific cannabinoids—CBD and CBG—would be allowed under the Senate proposal.

Reform advocates have hoped that, as happened during the regular session this year, House lawmakers might revise SB 5 to regulate, rather than ban, hemp products containing THC.

While that could still happen, Rep. Gary VanDeaver (R) on Monday introduced HB 5, which is effectively identical to SB 5. It had not yet been scheduled for a hearing as of Monday afternoon. VanDeaver chairs the House Committee on Public Health.

Heather Fazio, director of the Texas Cannabis Policy Center, told Marijuana Moment that the group was “surprised to see Chairman VanDeaver introduce HB 5, which appears to be a carbon copy of SB 5,” emphasizing that the proposals don’t align with Abbott’s stated goals for hemp regulation.

“Both of these bills strictly ban and criminalize any amount of THC and nearly all non-impairing cannabinoids. This means even full spectrum CBD oil would be off the market,” Fazio said. “These bills are unreasonable and do not reflect the governor’s position. Governor Abbott has called on lawmakers to regulate THC. He recently reiterated this position and called for low THC limits, but he confirmed that he does not support an outright ban.”

(Disclosure: Fazio supports Marijuana Moment’s work via a monthly Patreon pledge.)

SB 5, meanwhile, was on the Senate calendar for Monday but the body convened and quickly adjourned without taking action on any bills. Senators are next scheduled to meet on Wednesday.

Ahead of the special legislative session, Abbott specifically asked lawmakers to prioritize hemp regulatory issues. He reiterated his opposition to enacting a blanket prohibition on hemp products, which he called “a lawful agricultural commodity,” and called on the legislature to make two chief reforms.

One of Abbott’s requests was that lawmakers pass legislation “making it a crime to provide hemp-derived products to children under 21 years of age.”

Another sought a measure “to comprehensively regulate hemp-derived products, including limiting potency, restricting synthetically modified compounds, and establishing enforcement mechanisms, all without banning a lawful agricultural commodity.”

In his interview with The Texan last week, Abbott reiterated his opposition to an outright ban on consumable hemp products.

“I’m not in favor of a total ban,” he said, adding that he does support restrictions on synthetic cannabinoids and youth access to hemp products.

“I am, to be clear, in favor of a ban for those under the age of 21,” the governor explained. “I am in favor of a ban of any type of synthetic that can be added to these products that would make the product more dangerous. I am in favor of a ban of any hemp-based product that reaches an intoxication level, and that is more than three milligrams of THC.”

As Abbott has done in other interviews around the hemp bill, he again gave a somewhat confusing explanation of what he views as allowable THC limits in hemp, variously saying there should be a “three percent” or “three milligram” cap, which is a meaningful difference.


Marijuana Moment is tracking hundreds of cannabis, psychedelics and drug policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters pledging at least $25/month get access to our interactive maps, charts and hearing calendar so they don’t miss any developments.


Learn more about our marijuana bill tracker and become a supporter on Patreon to get access.

He said in a separate recent interview with FOX 4 that “every law enforcement official I’ve talked to has said the same thing, and that is, they don’t have the resources to regulate it,” but added that “If they’re measuring the hemp product not based upon the current methodology, 0.3 percent THC, but on the milligram basis, it’s a whole lot easier to be able to measure it.”

At last week’s Senate committee hearing on SB 5, most law enforcement speakers said they supported an all-out ban on hemp products containing any THC rather than attempts at regulation. Some later added, however, that they felt the state’s limited medical marijuana program, known as the Texas Compassionate Use Program (TCUP), should be expanded to ease access by patients—especially military veterans—who could benefit from therapeutic cannabis.

Notably, Abbott in June signed a bill into law that expanded the state’s list of medical cannabis qualifying conditions, adding chronic pain, traumatic brain injury (TBI), Crohn’s disease and other inflammatory bowel diseases, while also allowing end-of-life patients in palliative or hospice care to use marijuana.

SB 5 and companion HB 5 are among a small handful of bills introduced for the new special session to address consumable hemp products.

Among other proposals are measures to require extensive product warning labels and limit how hemp products are packaged.

Two other newly introduced bills are HB 160 from Rep. Charlene Ward Johnson (D) and SB 39 from Sen. Judith Zaffirini (D).

The former would require a number of warning labels to be carried on hemp products with any more than trace amounts of THC, cautioning that the products can cause “cannabis poisoning that can be life-threatening to children,” harm brain development in youth, increase “risk of mental disorders like psychosis and schizophrenia” and lead to anxiety, depression and substance abuse disorders.

SB 39, meanwhile, would prohibit hemp products from being packaged or marketed “in a manner attractive to children,” limiting packaging shaped like humans, animals, fruit, cartoons or “another shape that is attractive to minors” as well as packaging that looks similar to legal products already marketed to children, for example candy or juice. It would also outlaw misleading product packaging. Violations would be a Class A misdemeanor, carrying up to a year in jail and a $4,000 fine.

Separately, last week Rep. Nicole Collier (D) introduced a one-page bill, HB 42, designed to protect consumers in the state from criminal charges if what they believed was a legal hemp product turned out to contain excessive amounts of THC, making it illegal marijuana. It would prevent the criminalization of someone found in possession of a product that’s labeled as hemp but is determined to contain “a controlled substance or marihuana.”

In order for the person to obtain the legal protection, the product would need to have been purchased “from a retailer the person reasonably believed was authorized to sell a consumable hemp product.”

Another bill—HB 195, introduced on Thursday by Rep. Jessica González (D)—would legalize marijuana for people 21 and older, allowing possession of up to 2.5 ounces of cannabis, with no more than 15 grams of that amount being in concentrated form.

Yet another proposal would order state officials to conduct a study on testing for THC intoxication.

As for what Texans themselves want to see from their representatives, proponents of reining in the largely unregulated intoxicating hemp industry in Texas shared new polling data on Wednesday indicating that majorities of respondents from both major political parties support outlawing synthetic cannabinoids, such as delta-8 THC.

The survey also found that respondents would rather obtain therapeutic cannabis products through a state-licensed medical marijuana program than from a “smoke shop selling unregulated and untested hemp.”

Ahead of the governor’s veto last month of SB 3—the earlier hemp product ban—advocates and stakeholders had delivered more than 100,000 petition signatures asking Abbott to reject the measure. Critics argued that the industry—which employs an estimated 53,000 people—would be decimated if the measure became law.

Image element courtesy of AnonMoos.

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New DEA Admin Sidelines Cannabis Rescheduling Despite Earlier Promises

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Terrance C. Cole, the newly appointed Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), failed to mention the stalled cannabis rescheduling process in a recent release outlining his eight top priorities for the federal agency.

During his confirmation hearings, when lawmakers asked about moving cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III, Cole said that investigating the issue would be “one of my first priorities” if appointed to the position.

However, now that he has been confirmed, the new DEA chief has announced the agency’s first eight priorities, and none of them relate to the stalled cannabis rescheduling process. Instead, Cole says the agency will focus on enforcement actions like targeting international drug traffickers, including the Mexican drug cartels; disrupting illegal drug supply chains; expanding partnerships with state and local law enforcement; targeting “illicit finance,” including cryptocurrency-based sales; and other “coordinated enforcement efforts against transnational criminal organizations.”

Notably, the DEA Administrative Law Judge who was overseeing the rescheduling case announced his retirement last week, noting that moving forward, “all matters filed in this case will be forwarded to the DEA Administrator, for whatever action, if any, he deems appropriate.

President Trump said during last year’s election that he supported removing cannabis from Schedule I under the Controlled Substances Act, but since taking office, the second Trump administration has so far remained quiet on the issue.

Based in Portland, Oregon, Graham is Ganjapreneur’s Chief Editor. He has been writing about the legalization landscape since 2012 and has been contributing to Ganjapreneur since our official launch in…



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New Rules in New Zealand Place Strict Guidelines on Medical Cannabis ‘Advertising’ 

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New Zealand’s medicines and medical devices safety authority – MedSafe – has introduced its first set of guidelines for medical cannabis advertising which prohibit clinics from advertising THC or CBD products, distributing educational materials about medical cannabis, and displaying signage that suggests a clinic supplies cannabis, The Post reports. 

Sally King, executive director of the New Zealand Medical Cannabis Council (NZMCC), told The Post the rules have “a chilling effect on patient informed consent.”

“The guidance pretty much establishes that all forms of communication about medicinal cannabis are now considered advertising, including patients speaking to one another. The only real engagement is between a healthcare practitioner and their patient.” — King to The Post 

Waseem Alzaher, chief executive of Green Leaf Group, which owns the Cannabis Clinic, told The Post that the rules have “created a situation where patients are more confused, doctors are afraid to talk about it, and clinics are getting punished for trying to educate people.”

“We’ve had to invest in compliance consultants and lawyers just to make sure we’re not breaking the law by accident. That’s time and money we’d rather spend on care,” he said. “As healthcare professionals, we can’t stand up and start talking about medicinal cannabis, about what it means and how to use it safely.”

Businesses that refer to scientific research on, or provide any information for, products approved by the Ministry of Health can face penalties of up to $100,000 or six months in prison under the new rules.

In a statement to The Post, MedSafe said it had consulted “stakeholders” at the Health Ministry’s Medicinal Cannabis Agency to develop the rules but did not confirm who the stakeholders were.

“Medicinal cannabis products are unapproved medicines, and while they have been assessed for quality, they have not been assessed for their effectiveness as medicines,” the statement said. “This means there are controls around their advertising.” 



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Oklahoma Campaign to Legalize Adult-Use Cannabis Will Begin Collecting Signatures Next Month 

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The campaign seeking to legalize adult-use cannabis in Oklahoma is set to begin collecting petition signatures for its proposal next month, KOSU reports. Oklahomans for Responsible Cannabis Action (ORCA) filed its constitutional amendment to legalize cannabis for adults 21-and-older in April, and the group must collect at least 172,993 valid signatures from registered Oklahoma voters to get the question on the ballot.    

ORCA Director Jed Green told KOSU that the group is encouraged by the number of medical cannabis patient ID holders in the state, which totals about 330,000, for the signature gathering portion of the effort.

“We’ve been working to communicate with our industry and community across the state the last couple of months and expect to have a presence in at least a simple majority of Oklahoma counties when we begin on August 6.” — Green to KOSU 

If approved by voters, the amendment would remove the state’s current excise tax on medical cannabis products in addition to the adult-use reforms. Adult-use cannabis sales would be taxed at 10% under the proposal.  

During a 2023 special election, Oklahoma voters rejected a ballot question to legalize adult-use cannabis by a 63% to 38% margin. The new proposal includes safeguards for the state’s medical cannabis program, rules prohibiting the use of THC metabolite tests to determine legal violations, and protections for employees, parents, and owners of firearms.  

The proposal would allow home cultivation of cannabis and allow current medical cannabis operators to immediately enter the adult-use market.  

TG joined Ganjapreneur in 2014 as a news writer and began hosting the Ganjapreneur podcast in 2016. He is based in upstate New York, where he also teaches media studies at a local university.



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