Texas Hemp Advocates Deliver 100,000+ Petitions To Governor’s Office, Urging Him To Veto THC Ban Bill

Texas hemp advocates and stakeholders are rallying in opposition to a bill the legislature passed to outlaw all consumable hemp-derived cannabinoid products containing any detectable THC—delivering more than 100,000 petition signatures asking Gov. Greg Abbott (R) to veto the measure.

“Senate Bill 3 was designed to destroy a vibrant and legitimate industry,” Cynthia Cabrera, president of Texas Hemp Business Council, which represents the state’s roughly $8 billion hemp industry, said in a press release. “The bill now awaits review by Governor Abbott. We respectfully urge him to consider the facts, listen to our appeal and make the logical decision to veto SB 3.”

At a press conference on Monday, Cabrera said she wanted to “address the misinformation, misdirection and maligning of this industry” by the bill sponsor, Sen. Charles Perry (D), and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R), who serves as presiding officer of the Senate and strongly advocated for the legislation.

“SB 3 violates the very principles Texas prides itself on: small government, individual freedom and free enterprise,” she said. “Governor Abbott, we ask that you keep your promise to small businesses, to women entrepreneurs and to every Texan who values freedom.”

Critics of the bill have said the industry—which employs an estimated 53,000 people—would be decimated if the measure becomes law.

“Make no mistake, the idea that ‘no one knows what’s in these products’ is false,” Cabrera said, responding to the lieutenant governor’s arguments in support of SB 3. “For the past six years, Texas law has mandated third-party lab testing and clear labeling. The only goal of these scare tactics is to frighten legislators and the public into going along with an agenda they did not ask for.”

Rather than outlaw products outright, the petition from the Texas Hemp Business Council, which has now been signed by more than 120,000 people, says the legislature should “support additional, thoughtful regulation, such as age restrictions for purchasing, and child- resistant packaging, that ensure product safety without the elimination of these products for Texans.”

Texas lawmakers legalized the sale of consumable hemp in 2019, following enactment of the 2018 federal Farm Bill, which legalized the plant nationwide. That’s led to an explosion of products—including edibles, drinks, vape products and cured flower—sold by an estimated 8,000 retailers.

Military veterans advocates, including Texas Veterans of Foreign Wars, have called on the governor to veto the hemp ban, saying it “would cause irreversible harm to communities across the state.”

Farmers have also said the prohibition would devastate a key sector of the state’s agriculture industry.

Last month, a spokesperson for the governor declined to detail Abbott’s plan for the bill, saying only that he “will thoughtfully review any legislation sent to his desk.”

On the other side of the debate, supporters of SB 3 held a separate press conference on Monday, where representatives of the organization Citizens for a Safe and Healthy Texas condemned the hemp industry. One speaker said they are “sick and tired of the hemp industry stating no one dies from THC” and claimed that cannabis is more dangerous than alcohol.

Meanwhile in Texas, the legislature this week passed a bill that would create a state-backed research consortium to conduct clinical trials on ibogaine as a possible treatment for substance use disorders and other mental health conditions, with the goal of developing a drug that would win U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval.

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Last month, meanwhile, the Texas House passed a pair of bills designed to ensure speedy access to psychedelic-assisted therapy in the event of FDA approval, but they did not clear the Senate by the end of the session.

More recently, lawmakers over the weekend passed a bill to significantly expand the state’s medical marijuana program, sending it to the governor.

Just days after the legislation from Rep. Ken King (R) advanced through the Senate, with amendments that watered down the original House proposal, bicameral negotiators worked out a compromise over the weekend and then each chamber gave final approval on Sunday.

The final version of the bill—which cleared the House on a 138-1 vote and the Senate by a vote of 31-0—would expand the state’s list of medical cannabis qualifying conditions to include 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.

Separately in Texas, a House committee approved a Senate-passed bill last month that would prohibit cities from putting any citizen initiative on local ballots that would decriminalize marijuana or other controlled substances—as several localities have already done despite lawsuits from the state attorney general.

Under the proposal, state law would be amended to say that local entities “may not place an item on a ballot, including a municipal charter or charter amendment, that would provide that the local entity will not fully enforce” state drug laws.

While several courts have previously upheld local cannabis decriminalization laws, an appellate court comprised of three conservative justices appointed by the governor has recently pushed back against two of those rulings, siding with the state in its legal challenge to the marijuana policy in Austin and San Marcos.

Despite the ongoing litigation and advancement of the House and Senate bills, Texas activists have their targets set on yet another city, Kyle, where they hope put an initiative before voters to enact local marijuana reform at the ballot this coming November.

A recent poll found that four in five Texas voters want to see marijuana legalized in some form, and most also want to see regulations around cannabis relaxed.

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Photo courtesy of Brendan Cleak.