The Texas Senate has approved a bill that cannabis advocates and stakeholders say would effectively eradicate the state’s hemp industry, prohibiting consumable products derived from the plant that contain any amount of THC.
This comes as a new poll shows overwhelming public support for keeping consumable hemp products legal, while strictly regulated.
With the backing of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R)—who held a press conference criticizing the hemp market on Wednesday after visiting stores that sell cannabinoid products—the hemp ban legislation from Sen. Charles Perry (R) passed the full chamber in a 24-7 vote.
Under the bill, only non-intoxicating CBD and CBG items could be sold, even though hemp with up to 0.3 percent THC by dry weight was legalized at the federal level in 2018. Supporters argue that re-criminalizing cannabis with any traces of THC is necessary to close a loophole in the state’s own hemp law that’s allowed for the proliferation of businesses selling intoxicating products.
“For those that argue that this should just be more regulation and tax, there’s not enough tax that we can collect that will deal with the behavioral health issues and the addictions that we currently face,” Perry said on the Senate floor. “It would be in the billions. It’s unenforceable because every day a new product hits the shelf that was at the whim of a chemist.”
“What they have created and what they’re doing is akin to K2 and Spice and bath salts of the past that we as a legislature voted out of existence as soon as possible,” he said. “The effect of what this drug is doing to the people that are involved in it—contrary to what you hear—is devastating lives. It’s generational. It is creating psychosis. It’s creating paranoia.”
Senators approved a series of amendments from the sponsor on the floor on Monday, including one that would require all consumable hemp products to be tested and federal Drug Enforcement Administration- (DEA) certified labs based in Texas.
Another Perry amendment that was adopted mandates that consumable hemp products be registered with the state Department of State Health Services (DSHS). Each product registration would carry a $500 fee, and they could not could not contain any non-cannabinoid mood-altering ingredients or additives. It would be a Class B misdemeanor to sell an unregistered product.
The body also passed an amendment to make it a felony offense for to operate a hemp manufacturing or retail business without a license or permit.
Senators rejected an amendment from a Democratic member that would have struck language making only CBD and CBG consumable products legal while maintaining the core regulatory provisions of the bill.
Also, as amended in a Senate committee, DSHS would also be tasked with updating its testing standards to ensure that any hemp being marketed contains no THC, including natural delta-9 THC and synthetic cannabinoids such as delta-8 THC.
Hemp businesses would also need to provide written consent authorizing Texas regulators and law enforcement to conduct compliance inspections.
The bill would additionally add nearly a dozen criminal offenses to state statute for non-compliant activities, including marketing hemp products in a way that’s appealing to youth, possessing with intent to distribute hemp that contains cannabinoids other than CBD and CBG and delivering intoxicating cannabis products.
“Let me make it clear: There are lots of issues that we discuss between the Senate and the House, and sometimes you have policy differences. You work those differences out. This is not one of those bills,” the lieutenant governor, who serves as presiding officer of the Senate, said ahead of the vote. “This is a bill that we have to ban THC and shut all of these stores down.”
Patrick made the comments after paying “surprise” visits to several hemp business, which he described as one of his latest “on-the-street investigative reports.”
One of those businesses, the Austin-based Happy Cactus, said in a press release on Wednesday that the official’s visit simply underscored that the Texas hemp industry is complying with regulations and proactively deterring youth access. Patrick was ID’d at the door, and he was also informed that were no products containing excess amounts of THC under state law.
“We are proud of our team here at Happy Cactus. They handled the visit according to the best practices of Texas hemp retailers and with professionalism and respect,” co-owner Todd Harris said. “We are proud to provide a legal product that helps many people in our community, including veterans and seniors.”
Last month, I paid a surprise visit to a lottery store operated by a courier service owned by the sports betting company DraftKings. Within a week, the Texas Lottery Commission suddenly banned all courier services, and the Texas Rangers launched a broad-scope investigation into… pic.twitter.com/llsCn4uhfQ
— Office of the Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick (@LtGovTX) March 19, 2025
Following Patrick’s press conference on Wednesday, the Texas Cannabis Policy Center put out a statement decrying the event as “filled with alarmist rhetoric and unfounded claims, ignored real solutions that would effectively regulate cannabis and ensure consumer safety.”
“Concerns about semi-synthetic THC can be directly addressed through regulatory enforcement and by legalizing natural cannabis,” Heather Fazio, director of the group, said. “It is Texas’s commitment to prohibition that has created this market for converted cannabinoids in the first place.”
“If lawmakers are serious about protecting consumers, the logical step is to legalize and properly regulate botanical cannabis with naturally occurring THC, rather than enacting broad bans that drive demand for illicit alternatives,” she said.
That’s evidently what a majority of Texans want to see, according to a survey that was jointly released by Bayou City Hemp Company, Hemp Beverage Alliance and the U.S. Hemp Roundtable.
The poll found that 68 percent of Texas voters back keeping the hemp market intact, while still ensuring that it’s tightly regulated. That includes 80 percent of Democrats, 72 percent of independents and 52 percent of Republicans.
“As the legislature considers Senate Bill 3, the Baselice & Associates poll confirms that voters across party lines support a well-regulated hemp market—not prohibition,” Jonathan Miller, general counsel at U.S. Hemp Roundtable, said. “The responsible path forward isn’t an outright ban, which would drive products underground and create unnecessary risks to public health.”
“Instead, the legislature should enact thoughtful regulations that prioritize consumer safety, ensure product transparency, and maintain Texas’ leadership in the fast-growing hemp industry,” he said.
While Perry’s hemp ban bill advanced through the Senate, its prospects are less certain in the House, where differing regulatory legislation is pending.
The lieutenant governor recently emphasized a survey result showing that more than half (55 percent) of Texans want the state to rein its largely unregulated market for hemp-derived THC. But he simultaneously ignored the survey’s other findings: that even more Texans want the state to legalize and regulate marijuana for both medical and adult use.
Meanwhile in Texas, a district judge last month ruled that a local marijuana decriminalization law approved by Dallas voters last year can continue to be implemented— denying a request from the Republican state attorney general that sought to temporarily block the reform as a lawsuit proceeds.
Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) had filed a lawsuit with the intent to invalidate the law just weeks after the November vote. It’s one of several examples of the state official attempting to leverage the court system to reverse local cannabis reform efforts.
Numerous Texas cities have enacted local decriminalization laws in recent years, and, last January, the attorney general similarly sought to block the reform in Austin, San Marcos, Killeen, Elgin and Denton.
State district judges dismissed two of the lawsuits—which argue that state law prohibiting marijuana preempts the local policies—in Austin and San Marcos. The city of Elgin reached a settlement, with the local government pointing out that decriminalization was never implemented there despite voter approval of the initiative.
Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has lashed out against the municipal cannabis reform efforts.
“Local communities such as towns, cities and counties, they don’t have the authority to override state law,” the governor said last May “If they want to see a different law passed, they need to work with their legislators. Let’s legislate to work to make sure that the state, as a state, will pass some of the law.”
He said it would lead to “chaos” and create an “unworkable system” for voters in individual cities to be “picking and choosing” the laws they want abide by under state statute.
Abbott has previously said that he doesn’t believe people should be in jail over marijuana possession—although he mistakenly suggested at the time that Texas had already enacted a decriminalization policy to that end.
That said, low-level marijuana possession would be decriminalized in Texas if a new bill filed last week by a key House leader is enacted.
Paxton had used more inflammatory rhetoric when his office announced that it was suing the five cities over their local laws decriminalizing marijuana, vowing to overrule the “anarchy” of “pro-crime extremists” who advocated for the reform.
Meanwhile, Rep. Joe Moody (D)’s marijuana decriminalization bill for the 2025 session is the latest of nearly two dozen cannabis-related proposals filed so far in Texas for the current legislative session. Various other measures would legalize adult-use marijuana, prohibit certain hemp-derived products, remove criminal penalties for cannabis possession and adjust the state’s existing medical marijuana laws, among others.
Moody sponsored a similar marijuana decriminalization bill last legislative session, in 2023. That measure, HB 218, passed the House on an 87–59 vote but later died in a Senate committee.
The House had already passed earlier cannabis decriminalization proposals during the two previous legislative sessions, in 2021 and 2019. But the efforts have consistently stalled in the Senate amid opposition from the lieutenant governor.
Photo courtesy of Kimzy Nanney.
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