SENATE APPROVES TOTAL THC BAN

(AUSTIN) — No product containing any amount of any form of THC, the psychoactive chemical present in cannabis, could be legally sold in Texas under a bill passed by the Senate on Wednesday. The bill comes in response to the explosion of consumable hemp products containing the drug, exploiting a loophole in a 2019 law intended to create an industrial hemp industry in Texas. That measure legalized hemp plants with less than a third of a percent concentrations of THC in a bid to foster a new non-consumable agricultural industry in Texas. The author of that bill, Lubbock Senator Charles Perry, said that instead, a synthetic THC market has arisen offering products significantly more intoxicating than ever before. “It’s not your granddad’s pot,” he said. “It is something that is marketed as safe and legal – and it is anything but.” Since 2019, Perry said that retailers have opened over 8,000 locations selling these products. He also authored Wednesday’s bill, SB 3, which targets natural and synthetic forms of THC, but wouldn’t affect the status of two other popular, non-intoxicating cannabinoids: cannabidiol (CBD) and cannabigerol (CBG). It would, however, require that producers of those products pay steep licensing and testing fees and places stricter state oversight over those businesses.

Lubbock Senator Charles Perry’s bill would make it illegal to sell any product containing any amount of THC, the psychoactive chemical in marijuana.

This issue is one of Lt. Governor Dan Patrick’s top priorities. He said that these retailers intentionally target minors by opening locations close to public schools. “It’s in our schools now,” Patrick said from the rostrum during Wednesday’s session. “They do about a million a year per store, if you do the math. They aren’t just selling to veterans or seniors.” Some products being sold in these locations far exceed the amount of psychoactive chemicals present in the plant naturally. The plant typically contains concentrations of THC between 5 and 15 percent; some consumables being sold in retail locations can approach 80 percent concentration, said Perry. Overdoses of THC can exacerbate existing mental health conditions, induce psychosis, and in some cases, trigger schizophrenia. “I think taking a hard line at this point to protect the children of Texas is the only way to go about this,” said Midland Senator Kevin Sparks, speaking in favor of the bill. “Part of what we’re facing is a lack of understanding, I think, from our young people about how dangerous it is.”

One factor that allowed producers to circumvent the intention of the 2019 bill is the various different forms THC that can be synthesized. The chemical found in natural cannabis – and the one that is illegal under state and federal law – is properly called delta-9 THC. Manufacturers instead turned to a synthesized version of the chemical called delta-8 THC. Naturally present in the plant in trace amounts, it can have intoxication effects similar to those of its better known and prohibited variant when concentrated. When the Department of State Health Services moved to classify delta-8 as illegal in 2021, the industry sued. The case now sits before the state Supreme Court but in the meantime, delta-8 THC remains effectively legal. “I hope that after this bill is passed, the Court has a pretty clear picture of what the state of Texas intended to do,” said Perry.

Patrick sent a clear message of his own to retailers at a pre-session press conference: close your doors or we will close them for you. “We’re going to ban your stores,” he said. In addition to cannabis retailers, Patrick called out liquor stores who sell beverages that contain THC, often mixed with alcohol. “The liquor store industry needs to back up, and listen to what the people are saying, what the Legislature is saying, and say ‘we’re not interested in this product anymore,” he said. “I’m counting on those good businessmen and women who own those companies to do the right thing.” As far as the bill’s chances to become law, Patrick said he’s been in regular communication with Governor Greg Abbott and House Speaker Dustin Burrows on the issue. “We’re all on the same page. We’re going to protect the people of Texas from THC,” he said.

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