At a glance
Senate Bill 5, the first bill senators voted on during the 30-day special legislative session, would outlaw all consumable THC products in Texas, with exceptions for the state’s low-THC medical cannabis program. Retailers would be allowed to continue selling nonintoxicating hemp products that do not contain THC, such as CBD and CBG, under the bill.
Bill author Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, said the measure continues lawmakers' push to ban THC during this year's regular legislative session and aligns with current state and federal prohibitions on intoxicating hemp products, which he said the THC industry has knowingly been circumventing. He added that SB 5 would eliminate what he labeled an unlicensed medicinal field, and that a legal THC market isn't practical due to testing and public safety challenges.
“The ability to regulate this is not doable, and the experts that have to be charged with the task of doing it have no enforcement. There is no way to stay ahead of the chemist and there’s no way, from a dollar standpoint, to pay for that," he said when laying out SB 5 to senators July 30. "Regulation is decriminalization. Whether you admit it or not, the practicality of enforcement effectively does decriminalize.”
Zooming in
Some Texans have urged lawmakers to increase regulations on THC products in lieu of an outright ban, arguing that outlawing the psychoactive substance would harm some veterans who use THC to treat mental health conditions and force thousands of local businesses to close.
Perry said said the new law wouldn't impact farmers of nonintoxicating products like hemp oil, or most consumable hemp retailers like convenience stores that sell other types of products—although he estimated as many as 5,000 Texans could lose their jobs due to shuttered THC-centered businesses.
He also noted CBD and CBG products will remain available, and that the newly-updated Texas Compassionate Use Program will still offer veterans prescribed low-THC products under doctor supervision.
Abbott asked lawmakers to “strongly regulate hemp” in June, although he told Community Impact July 22 that he wanted to ban products with more than a 0.3% concentration of THC, or three milligrams per each gram of product.
“My overall goal is to protect the lives of children while at the same time protecting the liberty of adults to use a nonintoxicating product,” Abbott said in a July 22 interview at the state capitol. “The way that we protect the lives of children is to completely ban any type of THC product, any type of hemp and any type of marijuana from [children] being able to use it.”
State senators passed SB 5 with a 21-8 vote Aug. 1 and it now heads to the Texas House, where lawmakers have filed identical legislation.
Republican senators who supported SB 5 argued the legislative response is warranted given the dangers of THC, especially to children, and that intoxicating products are already illegal and shouldn’t remain available. Some Democratic senators expressed concerns about the potential to drive consumers and veterans to the black market, racially disproportionate marijuana enforcement and arrests, and an inconsistent legal approach impacting safety and personal choice.
"I just want to express to you that I'm just so sad about the ‘can't do’ attitude," Sen. Molly Cook, D-Houston, told Perry on July 30. "I honestly think we can. ... I don't understand why regulating THC safely is too big of a job for Texas."
What happened
A broad THC ban has been supported by some public safety officials, who've said agencies—from local to state law enforcement departments—don't have the resources for effective enforcement related to THC.
“It would take decades, in our opinion, and millions and millions of dollars, to hire and train agents to understand chemistry, focusing thresholds, lab testing and labeling compliance—and they will never be able to keep pace with the retailers, wholesalers and shippers,” Allen Police Chief Steve Dye told a Senate committee on July 22.
Rep. David Lowe, R-North Richland Hills, an Army veteran, has also said THC isn't the safest option for veteran treatment.
“There are benefits from hemp products for some individuals, but as someone who has lived through the darkness of war and its aftermath, I say this sincerely: stop using veterans like me as a vehicle to push your unregulated hemp products,” Lowe said during testimony on a previous bill this spring.
Opponents of a full ban as outlined in SB 5 have criticized it as economically damaging and harmful to veterans and others who rely on THC products for medical uses.
Lukas Gilkey, a Coast Guard veteran and co-founder of Austin-based THC retailer Hometown Hero, said SB 5's passage would be hypocritical given his view of THC's medical value and limited evidence of harm related to hemp products—while thousands of alcohol-related deaths take place each year. Mitch Fuller, VFW Department of Texas legislative director, said the TCUP program is relatively unaffordable and inaccessible for veterans, and that promotion of a ban stems from other industries rather than public health realities.
"This is about the pharmaceutical lobby, this is about the alcohol lobby, this is about the restaurant lobby, this is about the marijuana lobby," he said. "Alcohol sales are down in Texas. And this could be a contributing factor to that. This is the poison, right here, pharmaceuticals and alcohol are the poison."
Nicole Dortona, representing the Texas Hemp Business Council, said the legislation would negatively impact thousands of Texas farmers, veterans, business owners and consumers if it goes into effect, and that public opinion is strongly in favor of a regulated THC market.
"Texans know that prohibition does not work. What the public wants is reasonable regulation, not another blanket ban," she said July 22.
