Pumpkin-themed drinks and fall decorations have already started to appear in local shops, but the scorching temperature tells me it’s decidedly still summer as I make my way down a dusty road in East Austin toward the HOPE Outdoor Gallery for the Save Texas Hemp Rally: a fundraiser for the future of hemp in Texas.
The flyer promised a night of music, art, community, and advocacy and an invitation to “come meet the people fighting for the continued legality of hemp.” My Subaru told me it was 109° when I parked and I was already pouring sweat by the time I made my way from my car to the gallery. I immediately stopped at the bar to pick up one of the sponsored beverages: Habit’s High Five nano-enhanced 5mg craft brewed soda in Citravana Sunset. (Side note: Habit seems to be appearing wherever I go these days.) When I told the bartender I write for the Chronicle, he told me cheerfully that he often uses the Chronicle to clean his windows – and reads it all the time too, of course.
Right away, I ran into Nicole D’Ortona, director of operations for the Texas Hemp Business Council, who organized the event. D’Ortona helped secure Gov. Greg Abbott’s veto of Senate Bill 3 with her advocacy work and co-founded HIGROOV, a cannabis fitness brand. I asked about the venue itself and learned that HOPE Outdoor Gallery lent its space for the evening free of charge to support the mission. D’Ortona later told us during the rally speeches that HOPE stands for “Helping Other People Everywhere,” a fitting mantra for advocates who believe that legal access to cannabis is essential for the good of the people. “It’s been a tough summer,” D’Ortona said. “We’re here and we’re still fighting and we’re not gonna give up until we get everything back.”
I cracked open my can and complained about the heat as I made my way around the tables that lined the outdoor space, which in itself is inspirational with vivid graffiti art splashed across every surface. I chatted with representatives of Clayton Tucker, the ag commissioner candidate who is running on a platform of stopping AI data centers, and whose business cards sport the phrase “Goat out the vote” with pictures of four of his goats: Lyndon, Peso, Teddy, and Franklin. Tucker is a pro-hemp farmer who supports the rights of farmers to raise hemp and adults to consume it, and is against hemp monopolies. “He gets it,” the representative told me. “He’s super smart. He has goats.”
When I ran into João Mitchell, legislative director for Texas Cannabis Collective, I asked him “How’s it going?” and he responded “Not great.” Mitchell is also the general manager of ATX Organics, a vertically integrated dispensary that grows their own flower and makes their own gummies, and he sported a Napoleon Dynamite-style T-shirt that read: VOTE FOR WEED. He expressed that his optimism for the future of Texas hemp is not high, not only because of the recent ban, but also because of the federal ban looming in November. “Really has me bummed,” he told me.
As Austin band Housewarming started playing, I continued my rounds with the vendors, chatting with Fuse the World to learn more about blue lotus flower, admiring pipes from Sriracha Cat Glass and Bonno Glass, and discovering that Pinnacle Essentials was registering people to vote, offering non-infused baked goods, and supporting their entrepreneurial staff who were selling earrings and giving hand massages. I was delighted to discover that East Austin Mexican coffee gem Mercado Sin Nombre was present selling their iconic masa Twinkies.
“This industry is one of the last industries that is owned by the people, and that’s one of the reasons why they’re trying to shut us down.”
Nicole D’Ortona, Texas Hemp Business Council
The true spirit of the good old-fashioned fundraiser was in the relentless late-August air. As D’Ortona later put it, “This industry is one of the last industries that is owned by the people, and that’s one of the reasons why they’re trying to shut us down. Big alcohol, big marijuana of all people, pharmaceutical companies, they want us gone because they can’t control it, because this industry was built from the fucking hands of the people, not corporations, and we need to keep it that way.”
Although I have only been officially in the “hemp space” since the end of last year, I was pleased to realize that I have indeed become part of the community as I ran into multiple people I have seen at other events, shaken hands with, or interviewed for the column. That sense of camaraderie is one of my favorite things about the cannabis community in Texas. Like a good sports team or a small army, we bond over our collective identity as underdogs, fighting the good fight against a proverbial Goliath.
The folks who gave speeches at the rally seemed to share this sentiment. David Weinberg, running for Austin’s City Council District 5, took the stage with rousing energy and declared, “I’m 48 years young, and I thought that our country was turning a corner with hemp, with marijuana, and we were finally leaving this bullshit, prohibition, Stone Age, anti-hemp, anti-marijuana stuff in the past.” He went on to list some of the major problems in our state: people without healthcare, people living in poverty, people being chased down by ICE, “and we’re gonna make the issue of the day gummies.” The irony of it is profound. Weinberg went on to describe the leaders in our state as “backwards” and “backwater” and “taking us back to god-knows-when.” Maybe it’s the church kid in me, but I love it when speakers list things in groups of three.
We went on to hear from Marc Meyer, running for the Texas 15th District Court of Appeals Place 3: an attorney, retired Houston firefighter, and licensed registered nurse, and Jerry Zimmerer, running for chief justice of the Texas 15th District Court of Appeals, which by the way is where the THBC lawsuit currently sits. Finally, we heard from Cynthia Cabrera, president of THBC, a figure who looms large in the cannabis advocacy community, and by far the most compelling speaker. Cabrera summarized the lawsuit as it stands and told us, “I don’t want to make this about hemp. I don’t want to make this about Republican versus Democrat. I wanna make this about a bigger fucking deal, and the deal is your freedom, and your liberty, and your ability to make choices as an adult, for whatever it is that you want to do with your life.”
The crowd whooped and cheered as she concluded her speech urging us to register to vote. Despite some doom and gloom about the recent statewide ban and the threat of a federal ban in November, spirits were high as the sun went down and the event drew to a close. In a recent poll, Texas may have been ranked second worst to live in, but our hearts still belong to the Lone Star State.
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This article appears in September 4 • 2026.
