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Retailers and wholesalers who sell hemp-based products with THC were relieved on Sunday after Gov. Greg Abbott vetoed a bill that aimed to ban state sales of almost all hemp products containing THC, the psychoactive element in cannabis.
Abbott's veto preserves for now the state's multibillion-dollar hemp industry.
Along with the veto, for which he did not explain, Abbott also called for a special session of the state legislature to open on July 21.
Houston Public Media explained that "Abbott spelled out the likely path for a special session, including enacting regulations that would ban the sale of THC consumables to minors and making such sales punishable as a crime, require strict product safety testing, and prohibiting the marketing of THC products in a fashion likely to appeal to children."
Morgan Naschke and her husband own Nature Heights dispensary in Alamo Heights. She said the bill could have destroyed their store and others like it.
“It seems that they're just attacking hemp products," she said. "And like I said, the entire half of my store would be gone. Actually, the entire store would be gone. I would be out of business."
She was also concerned the bill could have banned other products in her store: “Now, a broad spectrum has no THC at all in it, but they're still trying to take that away. CBN is the sleep cannabinoid. It's what people use. All my dog products, broad-spectrum products for dogs, for cats, gone."
The store in basically split in half, with one side mostly hemp-based THC products and the other side CBD.
“We've been here since 2018," she explained. "We sold nothing but CBD products, full spectrum, broad spectrum, isolate, until, you know, several years ago when the other side of the market heated up. I split my store in half as you see, because I don't want to exile my people who have been keeping me in business for years. I didn't want to turn it into a head shop, you know, but I did want to have access to the other products that people come in often to buy.”
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who championed the bill, said on X that "[Abbott] remained totally silent on Senate Bill 3, the bill that would have banned dangerous THC products in Texas. His late-night veto, on an issue supported by 105 of 108 Republicans in the legislature, strongly backed by law enforcement, many in the medical and education communities, and the families who have seen their loved ones' lives destroyed by these very dangerous drugs, leaves them feeling abandoned."
Houston Public Media's Andrew Schneider contributed to this report.
