Texas GOP Lawmakers Are Divided On Federal Move To Recriminalize Hemp THC Products

*“I believe this ban will save a generation from getting hooked on
dangerous drugs.”*

*By Marijke Friedman, The Texas Tribune*

As part of the spending deal to end the government shutdown, federal
lawmakers approved a provision cracking down on hemp products containing THC,
restoring a ban Texas Republicans sought to impose earlier this year.

The funding package, passed by the U.S. House and signed into law by
President Donald Trump on Wednesday, includes language banning the sale of
hemp-derived products with more than 0.4 milligrams of
tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the psychoactive element in marijuana. The
measure would criminalize almost all consumable hemp products nationwide.

The provision was added at the last minute to a bill that provides yearlong
funding for the Department of Agriculture. It closes what proponents of the
ban call a “loophole” from the 2018 Farm Bill that allowed the hemp
industry to take off without federal regulations. Unless Congress reverses
course, the ban is set to start a year after the legislation goes into
effect.

Opponents of the provision warn it will effectively shut down Texas’ $8
billion hemp industry and the thousands of jobs associated with the sale of
consumable THC products.

In the lead-up to the vote that sent the funding deal to Trump’s desk,
Republicans in Texas’s congressional delegation were divided over the hemp
ban. Sen. John Cornyn supported the provision, voting against an amendment
that proposed to strip the hemp language, while Sen. Ted Cruz was one of
two Republicans who voted for the amendment, arguing that hemp and
marijuana should be regulated at the state level rather than through a
“one-size-fits-all federal standard.”

The House did not take a one-off vote on the hemp ban, but some Texas
Republicans weighed in against the idea, despite voting for the overall
funding package. Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Houston, said he believes a ban
should be decided by individual states.

“That wasn’t going to make me vote against this and keep the government
shut down,” he said. “We’ll leave that issue for another day.”

Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Richmond, agreed that he would prefer the hemp ban was
not part of the funding deal, but said reopening the government was more
important.

Other Republicans, including Rep. Keith Self, R-McKinney, and Rep. Pete
Sessions, R-Waco, praised the bill for closing the loophole.

Sessions, a vocal proponent of the hemp ban, said the bill would close a
loophole “that allowed intoxicating and dangerous high-potency THC products
like Delta-8 to flood our communities.”

The votes in Congress reopen an issue that caused a rift between Lt. Gov.
Dan Patrick (R) and Gov. Greg Abbott (R) earlier this year, when the
governor vetoed legislation spearheaded by Patrick that would have banned
THC products in Texas altogether. THC products have been legal in Texas
since 2019 when the state passed legislation mirroring the 2018 farm bill.

Though the 2019 law does not allow products to contain more than trace
amounts of delta-9 THC, it did not establish that same threshold for other
hemp derivatives. Patrick and other critics said the hemp industry
exploited that loophole to prop up more than 8,000 retailers selling
THC-laced edibles, drinks, vapes and flower buds that provide similar
effects to marijuana.

Hemp manufacturers and retailers, along with most lawmakers, agreed that
stricter oversight and licensing requirements were needed for the largely
unregulated industry, but Patrick insisted on a full ban. The
Republican-controlled Legislature sent a ban to Abbott’s desk, but he
vetoed the measure, calling for lawmakers to enact strict regulations
instead.

After the Legislature failed to reach a middle ground, Abbott issued an
executive order with new regulations for THC products, including a ban for
minors, which Patrick said at the time was a “state seal of approval on the
current THC market.”

The federal ban is a major win for Patrick, who received backlash from the
right over his unbending push for a ban, as conservative opponents said he
was turning his back on veterans and small-business owners. The majority of
Republicans in Texas want the state’s current marijuana laws left alone or
made less strict, according to a poll released by the Texas Politics
Project at the University of Texas at Austin in September.

Patrick applauded Congress for passing the THC ban, writing on social media
Wednesday that “consumable, highly intoxicating hemp-derived THC is
essentially banned in America” as part of the federal funding deal.

“The THC ban has been a priority for me, and I appreciate Congress
addressing this important issue at the national level,” he posted after the
Senate vote Monday. “I believe this ban will save a generation from getting
hooked on dangerous drugs.”

The federal crackdown on hemp products is a letdown for advocates in Texas
who spent months fighting to defeat the proposed statewide ban.

Heather Fazio, the director of the Texas Cannabis Policy Center, said it
was disappointing that the issue was rearing its head again in Congress on
the heels of the “long, drug out fight for freedom” against the state-level
ban.

The federal ban will hurt entrepreneurs and consumers in the state who have
come to rely on hemp products, Fazio said.

“Banning it and sending us back into an era of prohibition is going to
cause far more harm than good,” she said. “The U.S. should regulate rather
than prohibit hemp products.”

Opponents of the ban emphasize that millions of Americans have relied on
these hemp-derived products since they were legalized by Congress in 2018.

“Hemp is too vital to the American economy and to the livelihoods of
millions to be dismantled by rushed, politically driven legislation,” the
Texas Hemp Business Council said in a statement Tuesday. “As we proved in
Texas, we will continue to pursue every legal and legislative option to
overturn these harmful provisions and restore a fair, science-based system
that continues to protect minors, ensure product safety and preserve the
economic opportunities Congress created in 2018.”

This article first appeared on The Texas Tribune.

*Image element courtesy of AnonMoos.*

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