Many legal Texas hemp store owners could soon face a sudden change in the way they operate their businesses. Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is calling on the Senate to review and consider a ban on delta-8 and delta-9 hemp products.

In April, Patrick notified the Texas Senate to revisit a decision from 2019 that allowed hemp products containing delta-8 and delta-9 THC to become legalized. Later this month on May 29, a hearing with the Texas Senate State Affairs Committee will allow the public to comment about a ban on delta-8 and delta-9 products, to “Examine the sale of intoxicating hemp products in Texas. Make recommendations to further regulate the sale of these products, and suggest legislation to stop retailers who market these products to children.”

Texas has legalized medical cannabis for patients with a qualifying condition, but adult-use cannabis is not legal. Consumable hemp was legalized across the country when the Farm Bill was passed in 2018, and Texas legislators approved a bill to legalize the sale of consumable hemp products in June 2019 with House Bill 1325.

By 2020 the Texas Department of State Health Services had begun to register retail stores (about 1,948 at the time) for the sale of hemp-based products. According to the Texas Tribune, this increased to 8,343 by registered stores by 2023, and by April 2024, the number of registered stores has surpassed 7,700. 

Currently there is no law that limits the number of hemp dispensaries that can operate through the state. In April 2023, the House approved House Bill 1805, which would have established such limits, but it didn’t get a vote in the Senate.

The House has not yet been asked to conduct a similar discussion or public hearing regarding a ban on delta-8 and delta-9 hemp products. However, it’s possible that the issue could escalate after legislators convene the legislative session in January 2025.

While Patrick has put the spotlight on hemp products with THC, this potential move has some hemp business owners concerned. Shayda Torabi has been running a hemp dispensary with her two sisters in Austin, Texas. Together they created the brand, Restart, and Torabi also holds a position as president of the Texas Hemp Coalition. “We’re now seeing the hemp conversation not just in Texas, but nationally, show the pathway for how we can access this plant and really, ultimately help consumers who are seeking relief with cannabis products,” said Torabi. “We’re watching and waiting to see what happens next.”

Torabi’s dispensary carries hemp products made from CBD or low-THC compounds such as THCA, as well as delta-8 and delta-9 through a variety of ways (in gummies, edibles, oils, and flower). Torabi told the Texas Tribune that she welcomes any new regulations that would further legitimize her business. “It is the wild, wild West out there, and I can imagine you’d throw a stone in any direction and find not only new CBD products but the expansion of psychoactive cannabinoids,” Torabi said. “And it’s a double-edged sword. It’s great that we’re giving access to these products where the consumers are, but the lack of regulation is really the crux of the conversation.” She added that illegal products only work to bring her own business down.

Torabi stands by her products, which she said has helped many of her customers treat everyday conditions such as inflammation, depression, insomnia, and more. “We share the same concerns as Patrick, which is why we really do try to self-regulate as much as possible because we see where there can be malintent or taking what the intent was and twisting it,” said Torabi. “It’s a challenging place to be in because I do empathize with the state’s concerns, but the transformative conversations that we’re having on a daily basis are just so powerful, and those shouldn’t be overlooked.”

To Patrick, however, Torabi wants to convey that an outright ban would not be helpful. “We’re simply asking Dan Patrick to not eliminate the market but to further regulate and lean on organizations like ours, and to lean on leading operators like myself at Restart, to really understand and become educated,” Torabi commented.

To ensure that her products are legal and regulated, Torabi’s hemp dispensary only carries products produced in Texas, and only sells delta-8 and delta-9 hemp products to those over 21 (and CBD products to those over 18).

Another local business owner, Nico Richardson, who is CEO of Texas Original, also commented that he is required to follow intense regulations as a medical cannabis provider. In comparison, Torabi is not required to adhere to such rules.

The inventory for Richardson’s business can only be stored in one location, and if for some reason a patient doesn’t pick up their medicine at a store, he has to hire a driver to pick that product back up, and take it back to the storage location. “On the way, my driver passes probably 1,500 hemp dispensaries dealing delta-8 and delta-9 with no restrictions, and it’s everywhere in the state,” said Richardson. “Am I upset about that? Yes. I think it’s absolutely horrendous.”

Texas Original is one of three approved medical cannabis dispensaries, but it’s the only one that also owns and operates dispensaries in the state. When asked about a potential hemp industry shut down, Richardson agreed that more regulations are sorely needed. “It was never the intent here in Texas, and it certainly was never the intent for the 2018 federal Farm Bill, that you’d have a massive industry of—let’s call it what it is—intoxicating hemp derivatives. It’s marijuana by another name,” said Richardson. “That’s certainly not how the system was supposed to run.”

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Bickering over how to regulate Delta-8 THC is getting in the way of general cannabis industry reform in Illinois (and that’s not the only state). While the hemp-derived cannabinoid gives access to THC in states where cannabis is illegal, unfortunately, debates over Delta-8 are now making general adult-use legalization more complicated and legislation challenging to pass. 

Most recently, in Illinois, a cannabis industry reform bill failed at the May legislative deadline. The pushback is due to stakeholders failing to find common ground during the final days of the spring session. If passed, it would have increased the canopy space for craft growers, allowed dispensaries to operate drive-through windows and offer curbside pickup, and provided social equity retail license holders another year to secure real estate. However, then a proposal to regulate Delta-8 THC was tacked on. Squabbling over whether to ban Delta-8 or regulate it like cannabis halted the other broader reform efforts. 

As a result, they pushed back the entire bill until the fall session, Illinois Democratic Rep. LaShawn Ford, the bill’s sponsor, told Capitol News Illinois. Ford is against adding a Delta-8 THC ban in the bill until they receive more insight from state regulators and industry stakeholders. “We need to regulate it, make it safe, make sure that it’s taxed, and treat it just like cannabis,” Ford said.

Delta-8 THC comes from the naturally occurring cannabinoid in hemp. It is psychoactive with effects similar to its more famous cousin, Delta-9. Both are isomers of THC, but one has a double bond on the eighth carbon chain, while the other has the same double bond on the ninth carbon chain, giving the cannabinoids their names, Delta-8 THC and Delta-9 THC. While everyone reacts differently, it’s generally understood that Delta-8 provides a milder, more physical high compared to the cerebral effects of Delta-9, the THC everyone (well, not everyone) knows and loves. 

While cannabis is still illegal on a federal level, when the $867 billion Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (better known as the Farm Bill) passed, hemp production is now totally legal nationally. Cultivators are allowed to produce the plant if it contains under .3% of THC in its chemical makeup. Because humans will always find a way to get high, hemp manufacturers began generating and selling psychoactive Delta-8 products. In addition to offering residents of non-legal states something psychoactive, Delta-8 calls the Federal government on its legislation’s absurdity. Regulating and outlawing a plant based on chemical levels is nonsensical and doesn’t work—nature finds a way.  

While it’s excellent that Delta-8 gives folks access to some form of psychoactive cannabis, many may want to switch to Delta-9. To start, extracting Delta-8 takes much more effort (and can be worse for the environment) than regular ole’ Delta-9, which is simply more prominent. 

Production of Delta-8 is also more expensive, but putting away manufacturing concerns, Delta-9 is just stronger. There are many medical patients and recreational users who simply prefer the more potent and ethereal effects of Delta-9, and it’s a shame that the Farm Bill, filled with hope for the eventual legalization of cannabis, is now getting in the way of adult use and access to Delta-9. 

Regulation of Delta-8 across the U.S. varies. At least 14 states have banned Delta-8 THC products altogether, and that number will likely rise over the next year. For instance, Colorado lawmakers introduced bipartisan legislation earlier in 2023 to regulate any intoxicating hemp-derived cannabinoids (aka Delta-8). Conversely, Minnesota, which recently legalized adult-use cannabis, becoming the 23rd state, is offering producers licenses for cannabis and hemp-derived products. In a stoner’s perfect world, one would have affordable, easy, and equitable access to both hemp and cannabis products without fear of the feds. Still, until then, we will continue to report on the unfolding patchwork of cannabis legalization in the U.S. 

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All your questions on hemp cannabinoids, answered, plus huge deals up to 30% off and hot products from top brands.

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Hemp production was legalized at the federal level under the 2018 Farm Bill—but endless red tape and regulatory demands make it next to impossible to thrive in the industry. Growers and processors say the THC thresholds in particular make the industry unbearable.

But fortunately, a potential legislative fix to some of those problems is underway. In particular, the bill would raise the THC limit to a reasonable one percent during cultivation and processing, saving some farms from ruin over hot crops and other hiccups.

On February 8, Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) introduced the Hemp Advancement Act of 2022 with the goal to improve the 2018 Farm Bill’s hemp provisions and provide greater clarity and flexibility to hemp growers and processors. 

“The 2018 Farm Bill laid a legal pathway for hemp production but created overly complicated regulations and hardship for farmers and small businesses in the process. I am introducing The Hemp Advancement Act of 2022 to eliminate unworkable testing requirements, set reasonable THC thresholds for producers and processors while protecting consumers, and end the discriminatory policy that bans people with drug convictions from growing legal hemp,” said Congresswoman Pingree. 

She continued, “My bill takes a commonsense, straightforward approach to correct these unintended implementation problems and works to make the hemp industry more profitable and more equitable. My bill also provides a clear path forward for this industry and will support a thriving hemp economy.”

Congresswoman Pingree highlighted three fixes to the 2018 Farm Bill that The Hemp Advancement Act of 2022 would implement:

• Raise the allowable THC threshold for hemp and in-process hemp extract to make the rules more workable for growers and processors while ensuring that final hemp products sold to consumers aren’t intoxicating.
• Remove the requirement that hemp testing occur in DEA-registered laboratories, which is a particular challenge in Maine where there currently aren’t any of these facilities.
• End the 10-year ban on people with drug-related felony convictions receiving a hemp license, which disproportionately excludes communities of color from participating in this emerging market.

Congresswoman Pingree’s Hemp Advancement Act of 2022 is officially supported by about a dozen hemp organizations including The U.S. Hemp Roundtable—proudly representing the industry’s major national hemp grassroots organizations.

“The 2018 Farm Bill, while well-intended, left some challenges,” Jonathan Miller, General Counsel of the U.S. Hemp Roundtable told High Times on the phone. “The USDA has done a terrific job of responding to farmer concerns, but there are certain issues that have to be changed in the law to reduce the burdens on U.S. farmers—the first is the THC level.” 

Unlike other industries, hemp growers face much higher fiscal risks because of these particular regulations.

“What’s happening is that we are constantly hearing that farmers—through no fault of their own, largely due to the weather or the soil or seed quality—will grow a field of hemp,” Miller said. “And it will be tested to be slightly above the point of 0.3 percent THC level, and they’ll have to burn their entire field or major parts of their field—losing all of the dollars that went into those crops. So we believe that if we can raise it to a level of 1.0, it will provide a lot more flexibility, and at the same time, what Congress was intending by that 0.3 [THC limit], was that people would not consume intoxicating hemp products. So while the testing in the field is 1.0, the testing in the final product has to still remain under 0.3 percent THC so that the intoxicating products are limited to adult-use markets and not sold as hemp at gas stations and vape stores.”

The 10-year ban on felons is particularly frustrating, given that hemp by definition is the non-drug form of cannabis. “It was something that got inserted at the last minute—over our strong objections […],”  Miller said.”

“Hemp is a legal crop, and if you’ve done your time for an offense, you should be able to grow a legal crop,” Miller said. “There are no prohibitions on ex-felons for growing corn or soybeans or you name it.”

In Congresswoman Pingree’s home state of Maine, hemp production is at a standstill because it can’t be tested or due to other regulatory setbacks. While over 2,000 acres of hemp were planted in Maine in 2019, only 111 farmers received licenses to grow hemp in 2020, accounting for just 211 acres. 

Hemp—which is grown in every Maine county—is highly useful as a textile, food or fuel. 

Congresswoman Pingree reaffirmed her support for the nation’s hemp farmers and hemp-derived CBD businesses—that face burdens unique to the industry. 

Earlier this year, Pingree joined her colleagues in reintroducing the bipartisan Hemp and Hemp-Derived CBD Consumer Protection and Market Stabilization Act, with a goal to provide a regulatory pathway for the legal sale of hemp-derived cannabidiol (CBD) as dietary supplements. 

Congresswoman Pingree also led a bipartisan effort in 2019 to push the Food and Drug Administration to establish a regulatory pathway for food products containing hemp-derived CBD. She also voted to pass the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act of 2021 (MORE) Act in December 2020, which would decriminalize cannabis and end prohibition at the federal level.

This bill is supported by the following:

• U.S. Hemp Roundtable
• American Herbal Products Association
• Americans for Safe Access
• Association of Western Hemp Professionals
• Friends of Hemp
• Hemp Alliance of Tennessee
• Hemp Industries Association
• iHemp Michigan
• Realm of Caring Foundation, Inc.
• U.S. Hemp Authority
• U.S. Hemp Building Association
• Veterinary Cannabis Society
• Virginia Hemp Coalition
• Wisconsin Hemp Alliance

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