Texas’ Hemp Industry Wants Smarter Regulation. Dan Patrick Wants to Nuke It.
Lieutenant governor pushes to ban all THC
By Kevin Curtin, Fri., Dec. 27, 2024
I often find myself making a face.
I’m at some gas station gazing into a display case of weird loophole-weed products: random prerolls of unknown origin festering unsealed in a display box; edibles with cringey packaging advertising ludicrous potency like “420MG PER GUMMY;” vape cartridges containing God-knows-what with branding aimed at 14-year-old Fortnite players; and products with an alphabet soup of minor cannabinoid distillates like THC-M, THC-P, CB9-A. Disgustedly, I mutter something like, “Jesus, I’d rather smoke embalming fluid.”
If there’s a problem, this shit is it.
And I don’t know who the target market is for these creepy corner-store cannabis products, but it’s definitely not adult stoners. Weed lovers, like wine snobs, are painfully discerning people. We like organic products, accurate strain information, and assurances against contaminants like heavy metals or residual solvents. As such, even on the “black market,” self-regulation exists because the customers are picky know-it-alls. So this is one thing I agree with conservative Texas politicians on: Those C-store THC products are alarming.
With Texas’ legislative session looming, the first since psychoactive hemp became mainstream, there’s been broad agreement amongst cannabis advocates that this Wild West market needs some level of regulation – such as age restrictions, packaging standards, and testing requirements. But doing so in a way that supports the small businesses selling quality hemp-derived products while eliminating the irresponsible retail of underresearched synthetic substances – well, that would require a great deal of nuance.
Enter Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a man not known for nuance. On Dec. 4, he issued a statement pushing for a ban on all THC. The bulletin introduced Senate Bill 3, purportedly sponsored by Charles Perry of Lubbock, and began with an alarmist subhead: “Thousands of Stores Have Opened to Sell All Types of Dangerous Products with Unlimited THC. These Stores Even Target Your Children.” That message seemingly conflates corner stores with the many smoke shops that have flourished on the profitability of hemp. In reality, smoke shops in Texas require you to be 21 to enter.
Of course the most amusing line in the press release was Patrick asserting that some products contained “three to four times the THC content which might be found in marijuana purchased from a drug dealer,” which raised eyebrows because A) it sounds like he’s recommending “drug dealers” as a safer alternative and B) “drug dealers” are people who sell meth and heroin; the correct parlance is “weed plug.”
While Patrick projected “overwhelming support” for the bill, one notable Texas Republican seemed to question the blanket ban of THC. Agricultural Commissioner Sid Miller reacted to the legislative initiative on X, stating: “Not everyone is on the same page on this. The GOP needs to find some consensus instead of constantly running in opposite directions. We know what the polls say. It’s time to support the will of Texans.” In a follow-up post, Miller intimated his support for “letting sick folks have medicine.”
Susan Hays, an attorney, political strategist, and cannabis advocate – who coincidentally ran against Sid Miller in the 2022 election – says she was unsurprised by the lieutenant governor’s proposed THC ban.
“I was expecting it,” she tells me. “But I think a lot of the community has had their heads in the sand. There were witnesses at the May and October [Senate Committee on State Affairs] hearings who kept digging their own graves and not understanding the gravity of what is facing the cannabis industry.”
I asked Hays, who supports “a well-regulated cannabis industry with quality products,” to outline possible outcomes for SB 3.
Scenario 1: The House Votes No. “I’m not convinced a total ban bill could even pass the House,” Hays says. “I know Republicans in the House who are opposed to [SB 3] because they’ve heard from people who are using it medicinally and they can’t access TCUP [Texas’ medical cannabis program] or can’t afford it, and it helps these people. If it doesn’t pass the House, nothing changes. The black and gray markets rage on, and the really nasty stuff is still available everywhere.”
Scenario 2: Lawmakers Pass the Bill. “If they get their 76 votes in the House and actually pass the bill, can they really enforce the law effectively? ... Take a look at the capacity of the forensic crime labs for testing THC potency. So the outcome is black and gray markets rage on.”
Scenario 3: A Better Bill Emerges. “The Legislature does some serious, thoughtful policymaking, studies what other states have done, and does what I call a 'middle ground bill’ – a bill that allows true hemp extracts, but bans novel and synthetic, high-dose cannabinoids, then puts some funding into enforcement,” Hays explains. “But that’s only going to work if they vastly expand the TCUP program to meet the demands of consumers who find cannabinoids very helpful for what ails them. That’s the only scenario where the black and gray markets don’t explode.”
The 2019 passage of HB 1325, which broadly legalized hemp, helped establish a variety of successful small businesses in Austin, many of which capitalized on trends of CBD, Delta 8, and THCA thereafter. Presently, prerolls of THCA flower are the top-selling product at many head shops and most smoke shops in Austin. And some of the most beautiful hemp you can get is grown locally.
Geremy Anderson is a licensed hemp grower who’s built a successful business since launching in 2020. His legal, lab-tested THCA flower has won multiple statewide awards and four people make a living at his Geremy Greens farms. He says he understands legislator concerns about the low-integrity products people see at convenience stores.
“Those lawmakers have it right! They are marketing to kids and who the fuck knows what’s in those products?” Anderson says. “But that would be the tragedy of this ban: Instead of letting the players who are setting the high standard for this industry show everyone the path with testing and monitoring and transparency, we’re the ones who are gonna get our asses handed to us.”
The really twisted part is that, if all forms of THC were banned, the corner stores that sold the sketchy stuff wouldn’t go out of business – they make money on gas and cigarettes and beer – but the small businesses and smoke shops could be decimated.
When asked about the impact of a THC ban, Anderson directs concerns toward the individuals who purchase his hemp flower: customers who use it to replace addictive prescription medication; strangers who message him to tell him that his product saved their marriage.
But what would it mean for his business?
“It would mean a hardship that is likely to be insurmountable,” Anderson says. “If a ban does happen, there’s a huge likelihood I’d just have to shut down and figure out how to do it in New Mexico or Oklahoma because four people’s lives depend on this business.
“And I’m a special case,” he continues. “You take some of these smoke shops that two-thirds of their business is THCA... they might as well not even open the next day because it’s over. They are held up by four letters: THCA. If they take away this industry, 7,000 mom-and-pop businesses are gonna crash.”
In the next edition of The Austin Chronic, we’ll hear from smoke shop owners about how SB 3 would alter their existence.
