“This bill offers something we have not seen in a long time—a policy that actually reflects the realities of running a cannabis business in today’s market.”

By Payton Shubrick, Gyasi Sellers, Tito Jackson and Dennis Benzan, CommonWealth Beacon

We are a group of owner-operators of minority-owned, women-owned, social equity and economic empowerment cannabis businesses from across the Commonwealth and have deep concern about our ability to survive under the currently outdated laws and regulations.

Massachusetts once stood at the forefront of cannabis equity reform. We were the first state to create a social equity program. However, businesses like ours urgently need relief and support to survive in an incredibly challenging market.

We’ve built businesses that hire from our communities, reinvest locally and model what social equity and economic empowerment can look like, but we’re barely surviving due to oversaturation and oversupply. We need laws and regulations that enable us to thrive—not just survive—and give us a fair shot at growth and sustainability.

With the current limit of three licenses for any owner, we cannot structure models for growth or provide financial security for small owner-operated businesses. We also cannot raise capital based on the negative narrative around the market. The numbers don’t work unless you’re a vertically integrated or multi-state operator with better profit margins in neighboring states.

That’s why we support the recent redraft legislation, titled An Act Modernizing the Commonwealth’s Cannabis Laws, released by the House members of the Joint Committee on Cannabis Policy. We commend House leaders for recognizing the harsh reality that many of us operating businesses in Massachusetts are closing, and for putting forth changes that will give us breathing room and a future.

This bill offers something we have not seen in a long time—a policy that actually reflects the realities of running a cannabis business in today’s market.

One of the most important reforms it includes is the gradual increase of the retail license cap from three to six. Lacking the ability to scale, we’re permanently disadvantaged in every negotiation with landlords, investors, and suppliers. The current cap stunts our businesses before they can grow.

Without bankruptcy protections, some of our businesses will need to go into receivership, and some may even need to file for personal bankruptcy—losing homes and livelihoods. Increasing the license cap gives struggling businesses the option to sell and protect personal, family and community assets.

The bill also embraces equity joint ventures and employee ownership, paving the way for new investment dollars to come back into the local cannabis market. This gives social equity businesses a path to new sources of capital to stabilize and scale their businesses while traditional sources are still out of reach.

Critical guardrails requiring audits of business ownership and strict enforcement of the license caps are also included in the bill. These reforms ensure that changes to the licensing structures will uplift the people and communities they were meant to benefit.

The legislation also increases the adult-use possession and purchase limits from one ounce to two—which is seemingly small, but incredibly impactful. It is a necessary step that will help consumers access safe, tested products, boost legal sales and chip away at the illicit market that undercuts us.

Finally, this bill ends the mandatory vertical integration requirements in the medical cannabis program. We need to allow all small and disadvantaged businesses to participate in the medical market without requiring them to control the whole cannabis supply chain or demonstrate that they have capital resources of at least half a million dollars.

For medical patients in cities like Boston and Springfield, vertical integration requirements are a huge barrier to access to medical cannabis, which is sold tax-free. This change opens the door for those purchases for those with medical needs in communities with large populations with limited disposable income.

This legislation is not a perfect bill, but it delivers meaningful, immediate and enforceable reforms that will help small, minority-owned cannabis businesses survive today and grow tomorrow.

We didn’t enter this industry to be shut out from realizing the original intent of the first social equity and economic empowerment programs in the nation. We entered it to lead and build businesses that reflect our communities and repair decades of harm. This bill gives us a chance to do that.

Payton Shubrick is CEO of 6Bricks, a family-owned adult-use dispensary in Springfield. Gyasi Sellers is founder of Treevit, a licensed delivery operator based in Athol. Tito Jackson is CEO of Apex Noire, an adult-use dispensary in Boston. Dennis Benzan is co-owner of Western Front, which operates three adult-use dispensaries across Chelsea and Cambridge.

This article first appeared on CommonWealth Beacon and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Marijuana Legalization Is Putting ‘Pressure’ On Alcohol Industry, CEO Of Jack Daniel’s Parent Company Says Amid Profit Losses

Lawmakers reasoned that removing hemp options from the general public could be offset by expanding the medical marijuana industry.

By Stephen Simpson, The Texas Tribune

Texas lawmakers this year heavily focused their drug policy agenda on banning tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, products in the state.

Senate Bill 3, which prohibits the possession of consumable hemp products that contain any synthetic cannabinoid, often known as delta-8, was a priority for Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R), who often denounced the effects of the drug on children. As a concession of sorts to veterans and THC users with chronic conditions, House Bill 46 also passed, expanding the state’s medical marijuana program by providing more products to users and adding more qualifying conditions.

Both bills found themselves tied together as lawmakers reasoned that removing hemp options from the general public could be offset by expanding the medical marijuana industry.

While the focus was primarily on THC this session, Texas quietly passed Senate Bill 2308, which would create a state-funded consortium to research a psychedelic drug called ibogaine. The clinical trials would test whether ibogaine is a viable treatment for substance use disorders and other mental health conditions.

However, multiple bills that could have prevented overdose deaths failed to gain traction this year. House Bill 1644, for example, would have removed testing strips for fentanyl and xylazine, a veterinary sedative also known as “tranq,” from the list of banned drug paraphernalia.

The hemp debate

In 2019, Texas lawmakers embraced the potential to boost the state’s agricultural market by legalizing hemp products derived from cannabis plants with less than 0.3 percent of THC.

Six years later, SB 3 intends to shut down the $8 billion hemp industry and cut its estimated 50,000 jobs when the ban takes effect in September.

Critics say the hemp industry has exploited a loophole in the 2019 law to the tune of more than 8,000 retailers now selling THC-laced edibles, drinks, vapes and flower buds.

The proposed law would ban consumable hemp products that contain any synthetic cannabinoid, often known as delta-8. Non-intoxicating and non-psychoactive CBD or CBG would remain legal.

People found in possession of a product with those intoxicating cannabis compounds could face a fine of up to $500. Higher fines and jail time would be possible for repeat offenders.

Hemp industry leaders and advocates have denied any harmful intentions and are in favor of regulations on the industry rather than a ban.

Aging Texans, veterans, and parents of children with mental illness or special needs have spoken out about the benefits of hemp, including the ease of access, the variety of products available to them and the lower price. In contrast, concerned parents demanded a ban because they fear children would be harmed from recreational use.

The Texas Hemp Business Council reported that it delivered 5,000 letters to Abbott’s office earlier this week, along with a petition signed by over 120,000 people, urging the governor to veto the bill. Abbott has until June 22 to decide on a veto.

Expanding medical marijuana

In Texas, licensed medical cannabis providers must house all operations—including cannabis cultivation, processing, extracting, manufacturing, testing and dispensing—under one roof.

State regulations also prohibit inventory storage of medical cannabis products in multiple locations, so products must be distributed from the central dispensary. Any prescriptions scheduled for pickup outside the central dispensary must be driven daily to and from the pickup location—sometimes hundreds of miles round-trip.

This has made their products more expensive and limited where the medical marijuana program can reach, hampering the small medical cannabis market in Texas.

HB 46 aims to help by expanding the program to include more popular products such as prescribed inhalers and vaping devices, allow off-site storage and add nine dispensers, bringing the total to 12. It also adds traumatic brain injuries, chronic pain, Crohn’s disease and terminal illnesses to the list of qualifying conditions.

The first three dispensers will be selected from the previously submitted 2015 list of dispensers and then made available to the public.

The expansion of the medical marijuana program will go into effect in September if Abbott signs it into law.

Psychedelics research

Among drug-related bills that received less attention was SB 2308, which will make Texas a hub for ibogaine-related research, development, treatment, manufacturing and distribution. This will be accomplished by creating a consortium that includes higher education institutions, drug developers, nonprofits, and other stakeholders to secure U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for a treatment.

Ibogaine is a psychedelic found in the roots of the iboga plant, primarily found in Africa, and has been used for centuries during shamanistic rituals due to its ability to induce hallucinations in large doses. The drug has been illegal in many countries, but scientists recently announced a study finding that, in low doses, ibogaine might have beneficial uses to treat addiction, PTSD and brain injuries.

The bill could essentially give Texas a stake in any future revenue that may come from the state developing a medical use for ibogaine.

The program will be funded through a $50 million appropriation from the state’s general fund.

Less emphasis on drug overdose policies

Fentanyl, a potent drug commonly mixed with other substances and has caused the deaths of more than 7,000 Texans in the last six years, is odorless and tasteless, making detection nearly impossible without specialized equipment.

Fentanyl test strips are among the cheapest and easiest ways to prevent overdoses, but for a third time, legislation to legalize them failed in the Senate.

HB 1644, which would have legalized opioid drug testing strips, never got a hearing in the Senate despite passing unanimously in the House.

The main argument against drug testing strips has been that it encourages continued drug use, but advocates deny this claim, saying that once someone is thinking about their safety, it is by the time they are getting close to quitting.

Senate Bill 1732, which would have allowed nurses and physician assistants to prescribe medication-assisted treatment, like methadone and buprenorphine, for opioid use disorders, also never received a committee hearing.

A smaller step lawmakers made to address overdoses comes in House Bill 4783, which requires the Texas Health and Human Services Commission to prepare a report every two years for lawmakers to evaluate the distribution of opioid overdose reversal drugs, like Narcan. The report will be required to create a statewide goal for opioid reversal drugs and include an estimate of insufficiencies in the current supply and a plan to address overdoses in high-risk areas.

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2025/06/06/texas-hemp-marijuana-drugs-policy-legislature/.

The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.

Key GOP Congressmen, Including Pro-Marijuana Legalization Member, Defend Effort to Ban Consumable Hemp Products

Photo courtesy of Chris Wallis // Side Pocket Images.

A GOP congresswoman says that while she’s concerned about “free-for-alls” with marijuana laws, she understands the importance of having a “robust” medical program—a position partly informed by her own aunt’s experience using cannabis to treat symptoms of cancer.

At a town hall event in Iowa on Wednesday, a constituent who identified as a Democrat spoke to Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA) about the issue, while describing her personal friendship with a Republican, which she said has kept their relationship “exciting, to say the least.”

The woman added that she would like to see more Democrats elected so that “people like myself could use the marijuana for my paralyzed legs and my whole body to make it feel better.”

Hinson sympathized with the attendee, saying it’s “important” to maintain friendships and have have political conversations in a “civilized manner” despite disagreements, including around cannabis policy.

“I think what’s really important around the conversation around medical marijuana is making sure that it’s for medical use,” she said. “Iowa does have a program. I know we worked on it when I was in the state legislature. I think there have been some changes to it since I last reviewed that policy and looked at it.”

“My concern with free-for-alls around marijuana are that there are no tests right now for sobriety—for marijuana, unlike alcohol—where if you get in a car and you hurt or kill someone while you’re driving drunk, you can immediately be tested for how intoxicated you are as of right now,” the congresswoman said. “I don’t think there is the same test for marijuana, which I think could be helpful in making sure law enforcement could properly assess whether somebody did break the law or not.”

She went on to say, however, that she finds it important to “have a robust medical marijuana program, which we do here in Iowa.” And she shared a personal anecdote about why she holds that policy position.

“My own aunt had multiple myeloma. It’s been several years ago since she passed away, but she also took medical marijuana because she had that cancer, and it was the thing that allowed her to be able to eat and stay alive long enough to fight as long as she did,” Hinson said. “She lived 16 years with multiple myeloma— blood cancer—so I understand how important having that access to something that can make you feel better is and will happily, happily take a look at it as long as we can make sure the science backs it up on the legal arguments.”

In Congress, Hinson voted against a marijuana legalization bill but supported a separate measure aimed at making it easier to study cannabis. She also voted for a bill to increase marijuana businesses’s access to banks.

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Iowa’s medical cannabis program is relatively restrictive, preventing patients from buying marijuana flower and prohibiting home cultivation. But the law as revised in recent years is more expansive than what was initially enacted in 2014, and lawmakers introduced a bill this session that would allow for up to double the number of dispensaries operating in the state.

The legislature has continued to resist calls to legalize marijuana for adult use, however. And the state has faced lawsuits from industry stakeholders over a law enacted last year that restricts hemp-derived THC beverages.

Meanwhile, the Iowa House last month passed a bill to legalize the therapeutic use of psilocybin for patients with certain mental health conditions.

Marijuana Legalization Is Putting ‘Pressure’ On Alcohol Industry, CEO Of Jack Daniel’s Parent Company Says Amid Profit Losses