Politics
Texas Agriculture Commissioner Calls For Repeal Of Federal Hemp Ban Trump Signed Into Law
The head of the Texas Department of Agriculture is calling for a repeal of a recently enacted federal hemp THC product ban the president signed into law last week, cautioning that thousands of businesses across his state are at risk of shutting down if the policy isn’t reversed before it takes effect next year.
Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller (R) also said he’s hopeful the industry will put enough pressure on Congress to course-correct before that happens, with a regulatory approach to the issue that ensures public health and safety without kneecapping the cannabinoid market.
“We can protect kids and treat adults like adults at the same time. The federal bans [sic] takes our country backwards, destroys jobs, and hurts those who find relief in these products,” he said. “The ban should be repealed.”
The commissioner made the comment in an X post where he also shared an interview with KDFW from Tuesday in which he discussed the hemp ban President Donald Trump signed into law as part of a broader spending bill package. In that interview, though, Miller gave a somewhat contradictory analysis of the policy change.
Miller said initially that “what happened on the federal level is much better” than what Texas lawmakers have attempted to do with a bill to significantly restrict the hemp market. That state-level measure was ultimately vetoed by Gov. Greg Abbott (R), who went on to issue an emergency order setting age limits and other rules for intoxicating cannabinoid products.
It was a “start” to addressing the issue—albeit one that fell short of what anti-cannabis Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) had hoped to see, the commissioner said.
“I’ve never been an advocate of recreational marijuana,” he said. “I am a big proponent of medical use. If it’ll help somebody with a medical condition, I think we should help those people.”
The reason he said the law passed by Congress and signed by Trump is “much better” than Texas policy is because it bans synthetic cannabinoid products, which were easily accessible without age-gating to prevent youth use.
“A seventh grader could buy a THC-infused gummies and take it to junior high and hand it out. That wasn’t against the law,” he said. “We don’t need that. So this new federal law is going to take care of that.”
Yet despite his apparent support for the federal policy change, he conceded that if the hemp ban takes effect, it will ultimately shutter thousands of businesses across the state that produce and sell cannabinoid products.
“It’s not going to be implemented for another year, so I suspect that there will be a lot of wrangling in Congress to make some adjustments to that,” Miller said. “I don’t know the prediction. I don’t know how that’s going to come out. It may remain just as it is or it may change. Time will tell.”
He added that he doesn’t want an “all-out ban” for consumable hemp products, emphasizing that research shows cannabis can help people with conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), epilepsy and glaucoma.
“We know it helps that,” the commissioner said. “The medical end of it is proven. Now we have those facts. I certainly want to keep that aspect of it.”
What happens next on the federal level is unclear, he said.
“We’ll see what they do. The industry will push hard to have it changed. We’ll see whether they’re successful or not. It remains to be seen,” Miller said.
The commissioner also recently pushed back against a GOP state senator’s “incorrect assertions” about the state’s regulatory compliance with federal hemp laws. But he signaled that additional changes may be coming to measure “total THC” to determine the legality of hemp products in a way that some stakeholders worry could negatively impact the industry.
In the meantime, Texas officials are still moving forward with implementing state-level regulations for hemp products even as a potential federal ban looms that could conflict with those rules.
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For example, last week the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) started distributing a hemp law “checklist” list to help businesses comply with the recently enacted state cannabis rules—including age-gating to prevent the sale of intoxicating cannabinoid products to youth.
After similar restrictions were implemented by the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) in September, DSHS moved forward with the policies changes that comply with the governor’s executive order on hemp.
The checklist flyer was also released weeks after regulators with the Department of Public Safety (DPS) adopted new rules to implement a law significantly expanding the state’s medical marijuana program.
This specific set of rules will increase the number of licensed dispensaries, establish security requirements for “satellite” locations and authorize the revocation of licenses for certain violations.
DPS will ultimately be issuing 12 new licenses for dispensaries across the state. Currently there are only three. The additional licensees will go through a competitive process, with officials prioritizing Texas’s public health regions to optimize access.
Also in line with the state’s medical cannabis expansion law that the governor signed, the state Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) proposed rules in September to let physicians recommend new qualifying conditions for cannabis and to create standards for allowable inhalation devices.
Separately, a recent survey from a GOP pollster affiliated with President Donald Trump found that Texas Democratic and Republican voters are unified in their opposition to the hemp ban proposal.
Image element courtesy of AnonMoos.
