BILL WOULD BAN ALL FORMS OF THC IN TEXAS

(AUSTIN) — It would be illegal for hemp consumable products to contain any form of THC under a bill considered by the Senate State Affairs Committee Monday. This includes delta-8 THC, a somewhat less potent form of the main psychoactive chemical present in marijuana, but one that can still induce the effects of cannabis intoxication at high enough concentrations. It would not change the status of consumables containing two legal cannabinoids, cannabidiol (CBD) and cannabigerol (CBG), though they would have to be clearly labeled and packaged in child resistant containers. It would also enhance reporting and licensing requirements for legal cannabis producers and levy a $10,000 annual licensing fee to manufacturers. Lubbock Senator Charles Perry, who authored SB 3, said that the hemp consumables industry, worth $8 billion a year in Texas, has proven itself to be unreliable and unable to self-regulate. “The reason we are here today is because an industry that has shown itself not to be trustworthy has exploited this issue to the point that it has endangered public health,” he said. “If they’re making $8 billion in sales, they can afford to be licensed and have manufacturing fees to support the enforcement side.”

Lubbock Senator Charles Perry says lawmakers never intended for the widespread availability of hemp products containing THC.

When the federal government legalized industrial hemp in the 2018 farm bill, the state responded in 2019 by passing legislation to create a framework for the use of hemp in agricultural applications, such as fiber production. Instead, an industry arose in which intoxicating hemp products were offered for sale. The most potent are those using artificially increased levels of delta-8 THC. The Department of State Health Services (DSHS) tried to classify delta-8 as an illegal substance in 2021, but were sued by dispensaries and the question remains before the state courts. In the meantime, products containing delta-8 THC remain widely available in Texas. This widespread, quasi-legalization of marijuana in Texas goes far beyond the original intent of the 2019 legislation, said Perry. He lamented that what could’ve been a robust industrial fiber market in Texas turned into this. “The bill was intended to support farmers and promote an industrial hemp market that was designed to encourage the development of non-consumable hemp products, like fiber,” he said. The market became flooded, said Perry, with consumable products containing far more than the .03 percent concentration levels present in industrial hemp. Now, products that may be more potent than illegal black-market marijuana are available in smoke shops and convenience stores across the state. The industrial hemp market envisioned by lawmakers in 2019 never materialized. “It ruined a really good opportunity for agriculture,” said Perry.

While considering a bill to crack down on THC in Texas, the committee also considered another that would expand a compassionate use program in Texas, which allows for the prescription of low-THC concentration medicinal marijuana to people with certain conditions. Founded in 2015, the program as it exists permits prescriptions and use for patients with seizure disorders, MS, ALS, PTSD, cancer, and a handful of other diseases, but strict regulations on the program mean that obtaining the prescribed cannabis can be very difficult. Only three entities in Texas are licensed to produce cannabis for use under the compassionate use program, and in a state the size of Texas, this can mean trips of hundreds of miles to pick up prescriptions for enrollees.

SB 1505, also by Perry, would double the number companies licensed to produce and dispense low-THC cannabis from 3 to 6. It would also allow for the overnight secure storage of medicinal marijuana at satellite facilities located around the state, which advocates say will help with the timely delivery of cannabis to enrollees. Current law restricts concentrations of THC in cannabis used in the compassionate use program to no more than one percent; the bill would change that threshold, allowing cannabis to contain up to 5mg of THC per dosage unit. According to DSHS data, just over 100,000 patients in Texas were enrolled in the program by the end of 2024.

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