AUSTIN, Texas — Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick promised to ban all non-medicinal marijuana products in the state this session, but supporters of the hemp industry are doubling down on their argument that these products not only help consumers but also the entire state.

What You Need To Know

  • The Texas Senate Committee on State Affairs heard from the public about a potential THC ban

  • Senate Bill 3 would ban products containing THC outside the state’s medical marijuana program

  • Perry says the hemp industry exploits a 2019 law he helped pass by selling highly potent and potentially unregulated products

  • Critics to the ban say it would severely damage the Texas economy by eliminating 50,000 jobs and $8 billion in sales, according to an estimate from the Texas Hemp Business Council

One mom was moved to tears during a Texas Senate Committee on State Affairs hearing.

“My son deserves a shot at life,” said Piper Lindeen.

Piper Lindeen’s son uses medical marijuana and hemp-derived consumables to treat his seizures. Senate Bill 3 would make the latter illegal by banning products containing THC outside the state’s medical marijuana program. 

“We’re getting hemp through the farm bill from Oregon. That that qualifies within Texas right now, but it will not qualify,” said Lindeen.

Her testimony was met with disruption from the public, many of whom are against state Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock.

Perry says the hemp industry exploits the 2019 law he helped pass by selling highly potent and potentially unregulated products.

“The bill was intended to support farmers and promote an industrial hemp market and was designed to encourage the development of non-consumable hemp products like fiber,” he said.

Critics to the ban say it would severely damage the Texas economy by eliminating 50,000 jobs and $8 billion in sales, according to an estimate from the Texas Hemp Business Council.

But, there is an openness to more regulation.

“We want to make sure that there’s limited access when you go into a purchasing environment that you’re carded, and you’re made sure that you’re 21 years old or older, very similar to what happens with alcohol and tobacco,” Mark Bordas, executive director of the council, said.

It’s expected that the proposed THC ban will sail through the Senate, but the question remains whether it will pass the House, where similar legislation stalled in the last session.

“It’s pretty clear that unless you come out with some strong stance at the state Legislature, the regulators really can’t keep this under control,” said Nico Richardson, CEO of Texas Original — one of the state’s medical cannabis distributors.

Richardson has his eyes on a different medical cannabis bill that could expand the Texas Compassionate Use Program by adding vapor as a means of THC consumption and weighing THC by milligrams instead of the weight of a solution.

“Pretty much every other pharmaceutical you would be prescribed. You would be prescribed in milligrams, not as a percentage by weight solution,” said Richardson.

The potential change would also allow for satellite storage locations.

“Right now, we have to keep all of our inventory in one location. I don’t know any other industry that requires that. So, if we’re serving a patient in Houston or Dallas or El Paso, and they don’t pick up their medication, right now, we have to drive it back to our facility to store that prescription,” said Richardson.

The supporters of all forms of THC intend to be loud at this year’s legislative session.

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