Texas’ medical marijuana dispensaries entered into this year’s legislative session with a two-prong strategy to expand: to loosen the state’s rules on their industry that has made the program largely inaccessible to those who need it and to eliminate the competition, consumable hemp, which has been allowed to proliferate unregulated, cannibalizing users and profits.
The medical marijuana industry, also known as the Compassionate Use Program, notched victories on both fronts with state lawmakers, but, on the latter, failed to win over the man who has the ultimate say — Gov. Greg Abbott.
Now that the governor has vetoed a bill that would have criminalized the sale and possession of hemp-derived THC, medical marijuana dispensaries fear they can’t continue to operate if Texas doesn’t agree to heavily regulate the hemp industry or at least, give the medical program the same freedom.
“I was surprised, just extremely surprised and borderline in disbelief when I heard about the veto,” said Nico Richardson, CEO of Texas Original, a Central Texas medical marijuana company. “The expansion [to the medical marijuana program] was meant to include the hemp restrictions.”
State lawmakers have been called back to Austin on July 21 for a special legislative session to tackle how they want to regulate the hemp industry now that a ban is off the table for now. Leaders in the medical marijuana program want the Legislature and Abbott to ban a major piece of the consumable hemp industry, synthetic delta-8 THC, and to raise the age to buy the remaining hemp products. They also want lawmakers to increase dosage limits on medical marijuana products.
“But it also presents a unique opportunity to go back to the drawing board, bring important stakeholders to the table, and get it right this time around,” said Jervonne Singletary, a spokesperson for the Austin medical marijuana company goodblend. “Medical marijuana and hemp can co-exist in Texas, if it’s done responsibly.”
Rein in consumable hemp
Abbott urged lawmakers in his veto to consider regulating consumable hemp similarly to alcohol by recommending barring the sale and marketing of THC products to minors, requiring testing throughout the production and manufacturing process, allowing local governments to prohibit stores from selling THC products, and providing law enforcement with additional funding to enforce the restrictions.
