Texas Governor Renews Call For Hemp Regulations In Proclamation For Second Special Session Following Democratic Walkout
From toxifillers.com with love
The governor of Texas is convening another special session, again directing lawmakers to advance legislation regulating consumable hemp and setting an age limit to access cannabinoids, along with several other unrelated issues.
After Democratic House lawmakers staged a walkout during the first special session Gov. Greg Abbott (R) convened—denying the chamber a quorum in protest of a proposed redistricting plan for the state’s congressional map—the governor on Friday issued a proclamation to start a second special session.
Under the state constitution, special sessions cannot last longer than 30 days, but there is no limit to how many can be called.
The latest proclamation renews the governor’s call for legislation “making it a crime to provide hemp-derived products to children under 21.”
It also says he wants lawmakers to deliver a bill to his desk that would “comprehensively regulate hemp-derived products, including limiting potency, restricting synthetically modified compounds, and establishing enforcement mechanisms, all without banning lawful hemp-derived products.”
An initial version of the new proclamation said cannabinoid products should be age-gated to prohibit access for people under 18, but that was quickly revised and republished with the age limit of 21—similar to the call for the prior special session—for reasons that are unclear.
The proclamation for the new session also specifies that regulations should not ban “lawful hemp-derived products,” whereas the proclamation for the first session referenced a “lawful agricultural commodity.”
Already, hemp legislation has been refiled in the Senate and House for the new session. One bill from Sen. Charles Perry (R) would continue to outright ban cannabis products with “any amount” of cannabinoids other the CBD and CBG. Even mere possession of a prohibited cannabis item would be punishable as a Class B misdemeanor, carrying up to 180 days in jail and a $2,000 fine.
Hemp advocates and industry stakeholders say that would effectively eradicate the state’s market, as there are very few businesses that manufacture isolated CBD or CBG products that contain no traces to THC or other cannabinoids. Federal law allows hemp products containing up to 0.3 percent THC by dry weight.
A similar bill from Perry passed the Senate during the first special session but did not advance in the House.
The other new bill filed for the second special session from Rep. Charlie Geren (R) would follow the governor’s directive to make it so consumable hemp products could only be purchased by adults 21 and older.
Ahead of the end of the first special session, the House Public Health Committee took up the prior bill to ban consumable hemp products containing THC, without taking action on it.
Abbott vetoed an earlier version of the controversial proposal that passed during this year’s regular session, and he more recently outlined what he’d like to see in a revised version of the bill.
Some, including Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) and Senate bill sponsor Perry, have insisted that an outright ban is a public safety imperative to rid the state of intoxicating products that have proliferated since the crop was federally legalized in 2018. Others say the legislature should instead enact regulations for the market to prevent youth access while still allowing adults 21 and older to access the products and preserving the massive industry.
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Meanwhile, 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.
Texas officials took another step toward implementing that law this week—posting a draft of proposed rules to let physicians recommend new qualifying conditions for cannabis and create standards for allowable inhalation devices.
That came about a week after the the Department of Public Safety (DPS) previewed a separate set of rules to increase the number of licensed dispensaries under recently passed legislation.
During the first special session, 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 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 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 in June 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.
Photo courtesy of Chris Wallis // Side Pocket Images.
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