Texas could soon ban THC products. The state’s booming cannabis industry is fighting back

Holden Hylander carefully trims the top of a hemp plant inside a greenhouse, one of 3,000 plants that he oversees at this farm nestled in the sprawling Hill Country of Texas. Once processed, these crops will be turned into millions of gummies that are sold legally in the burgeoning THC market throughout the state. But those products may never make it to the shelves, as a bipartisan-passed bill now awaits Gov. Greg Abbott’s signature to ban the sale and possession of THC consumables. By the time Hylander’s plants are fully grown and ready to harvest in September, the products they become might be illegal. “We spent a lot of time getting our processes down and following the rules,” said Hylander, director of farm operations for Hometown Hero, a veteran-owned cannabis company based in Austin. “I’ve gotten licenses five years in a row and had zero complaints about what we do, but yet it’s kind of getting pulled out from under us.” While marijuana is illegal in Texas, less potent tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) products became legal after a federal law in 2018 and a state law in 2019 essentially greenlit the hemp-growing industry. These laws were designed to expand agricultural opportunities for hemp farmers and allow the sale of CBD oils as wellness products, but critics argue the legislation inadvertently paved the way for the sale of stronger substances, like delta-8 THC or delta-9 THC, which can mimic the effects of weed. CBD and THC both come from hemp plants and can be used to treat anxiety, sleep, and pain, but THC is more potent and has psychoactive effects. Both are currently legal in Texas, but THC levels must be less than .3% delta-9 THC. The new law, if it goes into effect, would only allow for the sale and possession of less-potent, non-intoxicating hemp-derived products, like CBD. In the past six years, the cannabinoid industry has skyrocketed in Texas, largely due to the stronger THC products. The industry generated $5.5 billion last year alone in sales revenue, $2.1 billion in wages and $267 million in tax revenue, according to estimates from Whitney Economics, a data firm that produces reports for the broader cannabis industry. Supporters worry that if the ban goes into place in September, many of the industry’s 5,500 registered hemp sellers — along with tens of thousands of jobs — could disappear overnight and push the demand back into the black market. According to the Department of State Health Services, registered sellers sell THC products at about 8,600 locations, many of them gas stations and convenience stores. While the ban would exempt products that only contain non-psychoactive compounds such as CBD, industry leaders say the market for those products alone is not profitable or sustainable for retailers who solely focus on hemp products. “This ban is a gift to the cartels,” state Rep. James Talarico, a Democrat who opposed the bill, said in a speech last month. Leading the charge against THC products is the state’s conservative lieutenant governor, Dan Patrick, who accuses the industry of producing items that far exceed the legal .3% limit of THC and marketing those products – like gummies, cookies and chips – to children. Supporters of the ban say the products are too easily available and have become a public safety issue, citing examples of adults and children who’ve experienced medical problems after consuming them. “Nothing is more important than stopping a kid getting a hold of this junk,” said Patrick at a fiery news conference last week after the bill had been passed. It’s unclear whether Abbott plans to sign or veto the bill. If he doesn’t take action by June 22, the bill automatically becomes law. A spokesperson from his office told CNN the governor “will thoughtfully review any legislation sent to his desk.” The hemp industry and opponents of the ban say the lieutenant governor is grossly misrepresenting the manufacturing of these products. They argue that legislators created the industry in the first place, and that the vast majority of hemp companies are responsible businesses that closely follow industry and state-mandated standards. They say the products have become a popular and safer alternative to pharmaceutical drugs and alcohol for help with anxiety, pain and sleep – and that the number of adults who benefit far outweighs the rare examples of those who experience extreme symptoms. It’s also an industry that’s thriving off a national trend of people moving away from alcoholic beverages. According to a 2024 study, a higher number of Americans reported using cannabis every day than drinking alcohol daily. On Monday at the state Capitol, a coalition of military veterans, farmers and business owners – along with the Texas Hemp Business Council – wheeled boxes into the governor’s office with what they say are 5,000 handwritten letters and a petition with more than 100,000 signatures from Texans who want Abbott to veto the bill, known as SB3. “SB3 violates the very principles Texas prides itself on: small government, individual freedom, and free enterprise,” said Cynthia Cabrera, president of the Texas Hemp Business Council. Supporters of the ban say THC products can cause psychotic episodes Texas isn’t the only state that’s wrestled with the emergence of these products. According to a 2023 report from The National Cannabis Industry Association, 17 states have banned delta-8 THC, for example, and seven states have severely restricted it. Last year, the Florida legislature passed a bill that would significantly restrict the sale of hemp-derived THC products, but Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed it, saying the regulations would be “debilitating” to small businesses. In Texas, some law enforcement officials have spoken out against the growing industry and claim that more access to cannabis poses dangers to users. “We see the psychotic episodes. We see the suicide attempt,” said Collin County District Attorney Greg Willis at a news conference hosted by the lieutenant governor last week. “We sit down with parents who are heartbroken and devastated after something has happened with their child, after they consume something that everybody thought was safe.” Joel Rodriguez, a 25-year-old college student, said he’s still recovering from what he called an addiction to THC products that he purchased online and at vape shops in the McAllen, Texas area. In 2022, Rodriguez said, he took one hit from a vape product that he said contained a mixture of synthetic delta-9 and delta-8, as well as two other cannabinoids known as HHC and THC-P, though he doesn’t recall the exact brand. He said he immediately felt symptoms of paranoia that didn’t subside for weeks. “Everything started getting dizzy. I started to hear voices. I could hear people’s thoughts. I would hear things crawling out of the walls,” he told CNN. “I thought the sun was talking to me.” His family got him medical attention at a hospital, where he said he was diagnosed with cannabis-induced psychosis and prescribed a variety of prescription drugs. Rodriguez said he continued using vape products that he purchased in the Rio Grande Valley, and his family got him support at rehabilitation centers in Texas and Utah over the past three years. To this day, he said he’s still taking clozapine to treat symptoms of schizophrenia and will need it indefinitely. He and his mother, Didi, appeared at a news conference at the Texas state Capitol on Monday to urge Abbott to sign the bill. “In the world of cannabis-induced psychosis, we as families, we struggle to fight for our loved ones’ well-being and put them back in … the path of wellness,” she said. “It’s a dark, horror-filled war against unseen enemies.” While incidents of cannabis-induced psychosis are rare, more studies are being done on why some people seem to be more susceptible than others. The votes on this bill have not fallen along strict party lines. Democratic State Sen. Roland Gutierrez voted with Patrick to ban these THC products. Gutierrez told CNN that while he wants to see Texas fully legalize and regulate cannabis, the current law in Texas has opened the door to many “bad actors” selling dangerous synthetic products to young people. What we’re selling to kids on the street and in convenience stores is just a bunch of crap,” Gutierrez said. The senator said he supported the move to ban THC products after lawmakers also voted to expand the ability of military veterans to get prescriptions under the state’s restrictive medical marijuana program. “Cannabis is a great healer of many things. It has to be regulated in some way,” Gutierrez said. “But that’s not what’s happening in Texas.” Opponents of the ban say the products meet strict safety standards Industry experts concede there may be some bad actors selling products that contain synthetics or illegal amounts of THC, but they say the overwhelming majority of companies follow the rules because they want to stay in business. Groups like the Texas Hemp Business Council have lobbied for more regulations, like age minimums, in previous legislative sessions but have not succeeded. “I don’t understand how Texas politicians can decide they’re gonna create something. And then on a whim, six years later decide, ‘Eh, we don’t like how this went. We’re gonna completely wipe it out. We’re gonna shut down the industry and we’re gonna harm all these individuals and all these small businesses in Texas,’” said Lukas Gilkey, co-founder of Hometown Hero, the Austin-based company that owns the hemp farm where Holden Hylander works. In Patrick’s news conference last month, he displayed a variety of THC products before the cameras and specifically focused on a bag of edibles made by Hometown Hero. “I don’t know what’s in it because no one knows what’s in it,” he said. “It can poison you — not just children, but adults.” Gilkey said he chuckled when he saw Patrick pick on his company’s edibles, because his products label all of the ingredients and include a QR code on the packaging for people who want to learn more about the product. He said the products are sent to Drug Enforcement Administration partner labs and go through rigorous testing for accuracy standards, as well as testing for harmful constituents. “He tries to make it seem like there’s no regulation on these products when that’s the opposite. This industry is heavily regulated within Texas. We have a lot of requirements that we have to go through to be fully legal within Texas,” Gilkey told CNN. “We show everything we’re required to by law.” If the ban goes into effect, roughly 200 employees at his company could be out of a job, he said. “I moved here because the governor himself said that this was a state that supported small businesses,” said Gilkey, a Coast Guard veteran who also serves as an advocate for the hemp industry. “That’s why he came here. And now to be in a position where the state is deciding that they changed their mind on something is very unfortunate.” After fierce debate, lawmakers ultimately passed reforms this legislative session to expand the state’s medical cannabis law as a concession. The new provisions increase the number of licensed dispensaries from three to 12 and add “chronic pain” as an eligible medical condition. However, critics say the reforms are hardly enough to help the large population of Texans who use THC products for symptoms. Dave Walden, an Army veteran and senior vice commander for the VFW Department of Texas, said at a news conference on Monday that he became reliant on opioids while seeking care at the VA but said the drugs “nearly destroyed” him. “Since 2018, I haven’t touched a single opioid,” he said, holding up a THC product. “I’ve rebuilt my life. I’ve become a better leader, a better husband, a better father, and ultimately a better man. But now Senate Bill 3 wants to turn this into contraband. It wants to turn me and thousands of other veterans into criminals for choosing an alternative that works for us.” State Rep. Brian Harrison was among two House Republicans who opposed the ban. He further bucked his own party on Monday by publicly calling for Abbott to veto the bill, describing it as government overreach that will lead to an economic disaster. “The government is not your parent,” he told CNN on Monday. “And I’m very concerned about what it’s going to do to Texas adults who want, or who rely on these products, and it either pushing them into much more dangerous and unregulated black markets or to more deadly and addictive pharmaceuticals.”