Texas Medical Marijuana Industry Wants Lawmakers To Ban Synthetic Delta-8 THC And Restrict Hemp Products To Adults

*“Medical marijuana and hemp can co-exist in Texas, if it’s done
responsibly.”*

*By Stephen Simpson, The Texas Tribune*

Texas’s medical marijuana dispensaries entered into this year’s legislative
session with a two-prong strategy to expand: to loosen the state’s rules on
their industry that has made the program largely inaccessible to those who
need it and to eliminate the competition, consumable hemp, which has been
allowed to proliferate unregulated, cannibalizing users and profits.

The medical marijuana industry, also known as the Compassionate Use
Program, notched victories on both fronts with state lawmakers, but, on the
latter, failed to win over the man who has the ultimate say—Gov. Greg
Abbott (R).

Now that the governor has vetoed a bill that would have criminalized the
sale and possession of hemp-derived THC, medical marijuana dispensaries
fear they can’t continue to operate if Texas doesn’t agree to heavily
regulate the hemp industry or at least, give the medical program the same
freedom.

“I was surprised, just extremely surprised and borderline in disbelief when
I heard about the veto,” said Nico Richardson, CEO of Texas Original, a
Central Texas medical marijuana company. “The expansion [to the medical
marijuana program] was meant to include the hemp restrictions.”

State lawmakers have been called back to Austin on July 21 for a special
legislative session to tackle how they want to regulate the hemp industry
now that a ban is off the table for now. Leaders in the medical marijuana
program want the Legislature and Abbott to ban a major piece of the
consumable hemp industry, synthetic delta-8 THC, and to raise the age to
buy the remaining hemp products. They also want lawmakers to increase
dosage limits on medical marijuana products.

“But it also presents a unique opportunity to go back to the drawing board,
bring important stakeholders to the table, and get it right this time
around,” said Jervonne Singletary, a spokesperson for the Austin medical
marijuana company goodblend. “Medical marijuana and hemp can co-exist in
Texas, if it’s done responsibly.”

*Rein in consumable hemp*

Abbott urged lawmakers in his veto to consider regulating consumable hemp
similarly to alcohol by recommending barring the sale and marketing of THC
products to minors, requiring testing throughout the production and
manufacturing process, allowing local governments to prohibit stores from
selling THC products and providing law enforcement with additional funding
to enforce the restrictions.

Medical marijuana leaders also want regulations to go a step further by
banning a significant part of the smokeable hemp industry, products that
contain the synthetic THC known as delta-8. The products are cheap to
manufacture and have a longer shelf life because they contain a small
amount of natural hemp. Delta-9 THC, like marijuana, on the other hand, is
derived straight from the plant and is more time-consuming and expensive to
produce since it requires a grower’s expertise.

“Our products are comparable in price to the delta-9 THC products. What we
can’t compete with is these delta-8 products because we can’t manufacture
chemicals, and frankly, we wouldn’t want to because it’s not responsible,”
Richardson said.

The Texas Hemp Coalition, the industry’s nonprofit advocacy arm that
monitors market changes, supports regulations on delta-8. Aaron Owens, a
member of the hemp industry, said he supports an outright ban because it
would allow hemp growers to have more control over the market, rather than
laboratories.

“The number one problem is these synthetics. You take those away and 95
percent of the industry disappears because this stuff isn’t coming from the
farmer,” said Owens, a hemp farmer and founder of Austin-based Tejas Tonic,
a hemp beverage company. “A ban on synthetics would…go back to the
old-fashioned hemp-and-cannabis way.”

Members of the hemp industry said they would be willing to accept many of
the regulations that Abbott proposed in his veto. They would also agree
with implementing an age restriction of 21 to purchase THC-containing hemp
products and to bar the sale within 1,000 feet of a school or church.

“I think by bringing those standards up for hemp, I think it will help us
coexist,” Singletary said. “I want to make it really clear that we are not
anti-hemp, but we do feel like the hemp industry needs to follow some
really clear, defined rules.”

Without heavy regulation on the hemp industry, Richardson said the state’s
medical marijuana is doomed to fail under the burden of state regulations.
Texas has one of the most strictly regulated medical marijuana programs in
the country, making their products more expensive than hemp-derived THC and
limited on where the medical marijuana program can reach.

House Bill 46, which goes into effect September 1, aims to loosen the reins
on the medical marijuana program by allowing distributors to store their
products in various satellite locations, rather than requiring them to
travel across the state to return the product to the original dispensary on
a daily basis.

It also allows patients in the program to use products like cannabis
patches, lotions and prescribed inhalers and vaping devices and licensed
dispensers to open more satellite locations.

The bill expands the number of total dispensary operators to 12—one for
every public health region in the state and an online option—but allows
that number to go up to 15. Currently, there are three medical marijuana
dispensaries, with two of them primarily located in Central Texas and the
third mostly online. Traumatic brain injury, Crohn’s disease and chronic
pain were also added as qualifying conditions for the program.

However, Richardson said, allowing the consumable hemp industry to continue
under the status quo would render HB 46 obsolete.

“You can’t compete with the price of zero regulation because that is not
safe,” he said. “If they want recreational THC, they need to have the
proper systems in place first and the proper regulations because right now
this is not a safe way to sell recreational cannabis.”

*The road to coexisting*

Although Patrick has signaled he will push to ban hemp again during the
special session, some medical marijuana operators are ready to focus on
themselves.

“We are laser-focused on expansion,” Singletary said. “We are laser-focused
on getting new conditions, getting new formats, creating overnight storage
and changing the dosing requirements from percentage to milligrams.”

One of the main complaints issued against the state’s medical marijuana
program is the cost. Medical marijuana products in Texas can start as low
as $4 and go up to as much as $80 for box of gummies, depending on the
concentration of THC, according to Singletary.

“Our costs are high because we do well grown products in addition to
regulations. We are required to test these products and get our information
to the [Department of Public Safety] for review. We have to do accurate
labeling, all of which is good for the program and peace of mind, but adds
a small cost to it,” she said.

Singletary believes expansion, especially as more dispensaries start
operating online, will help lower costs, although it could take about two
years.

“What you saw at the beginning of Florida’s medical marijuana program was
$60 to $80 products. Now you see those down to about $20 since the
expansion” in 2017, she said.

Richardson said if hemp remains, lawmakers should adjust the dosage limit
placed on the Texas’ medical marijuana program.

“We have a 10 mg dosage cap [for products], but recreational has nothing.
That is wild if you think about it,” he said.

Despite the challenges, Singletary said the medical marijuana industry
welcomes regulations because their products have psychoactive and
intoxicating properties.

A balance of regulations between the hemp and medical marijuana industries
will help them coexist—one to meet recreational needs and the other for
those who need more guidance and safer products.

“We just want to see sensible regulations. We want to ensure that people
know what they’re taking, especially because these two products are two
components of the same plant. However, you want to frame it, these two
things are sisters,” she said.

*This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at
https://www.texastribune.org/2025/07/01/texas-hemp-thc-marijuana-medical-regulations/.*

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

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*Photo courtesy of Brendan Cleak.*

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Delta-8 THC And Restrict Hemp Products To Adults appeared first on Marijuana
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