Flood of Intoxicating Hemp Products Spurs Texas Lawmakers’ Plan to Enact Sweeping THC Ban Next Year

Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick (R) announced on Wednesday that Texas lawmakers aim to establish a statewide ban on THC products next year, the Texas Tribune reports.

Senate Bill 3, which Patrick said will be a top priority for the next session, will be aimed at hemp-derived delta-9 and delta-8 THC products specifically after lawmakers passed legislation in 2019 to allow for the sale of consumable hemp products. The lieutenant governor said that retailers taking advantage of a loophole in the 2019 law have brought unsafe and largely unregulated products to market.

“Dangerously, retailers exploited the agriculture law to sell life-threatening, unregulated forms of THC to the public and made them easily accessible. Since 2023, thousands of stores selling hazardous THC products have popped up in communities across the state, and many sell products, including beverages, that have three to four times the THC content which might be found in marijuana purchased from a drug dealer.” — Patrick, in a statement

Hemp industry advocates, meanwhile, argue that a blanket THC ban would throw the state’s burgeoning hemp industry into turmoil and cause economic damage throughout the state.

While Texas has yet to adopt significant state-level cannabis reforms, many cities including Austin, Denton, San Marcos, and most recently Dallas have adopted local, voter-approved cannabis decriminalization ordinances.  Some state-level officials, meanwhile, are looking to hinder further reforms — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) announced last month, for example, that he is suing the city of Dallas over the city’s new cannabis policy. However, the courts previously dismissed a lawsuit by the attorney general’s office against similar policies adopted in other municipalities.