Dallas News – by Lauren McGaughy
AUSTIN — Gov. Greg Abbott signed a new law Monday that clears up which CBD products are legal in Texas and will also allow local farmers to grow hemp as a crop.
The law, which received bipartisan support in the state Legislature, goes into effect immediately.
It will allow Texas to set up a federally approved program for farmers to grow hemp as an industrial crop, including procedures for sampling, inspection and testing. It also expands the kind of hemp products that can be legally purchased in Texas to include any hemp or hemp-derived products containing less than 0.3 percent of THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, the psychoactive compound found in cannabis plants.
This includes cannabidiol, or CBD, products. While Texans have found oils, tinctures and other CBD goods on store shelves for years, those that contained even trace amounts of THC were technically illegal here. Now, as long as these products are derived from hemp, contain less than 0.3 percent THC and meet other labeling and quality standards, they are legal.
Marijuana will remain illegal in Texas.
Abbott, a Republican, did not sign the hemp bill publicly nor did his office return a request for comment on the new law. Other GOP leaders applauded the bill’s passage into law as long overdue.
“I am excited that we have taken one more step towards giving producers in Texas the opportunity to grow hemp,” Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller said in a statement. “Texas will be a leader in hemp production, and we will be submitting our plan and writing rules to follow the 2018 Farm Bill and the law recently enacted in Texas.
“This will be another tool for farmers that are looking to diversify their farming operations.”
The federal government removed hemp from its list of controlled substances, a move the Lone Star State replicated in April. But unlike the 42 other states who had already opted into industrial hemp production, Texas had not, a decision farmers said was holding them back from tapping into a lucrative and popular crop.
In fact, until Abbott signed the hemp bill into law Monday, state law still defined marijuana and hemp as the same, rendering both broadly illegal in Texas. Hemp and marijuana both come from the cannabis plant family. Unlike its high-inducing cousin, hemp contains low levels of THC.
Heather Fazio, director of Texans for Responsible Marijuana Policy, called the bill’s signing into law “a big step for Texans and one we can all be proud of.”
“The Texas Legislature got at least one thing right this session when they legalized hemp. Finally, Texas farmers are no longer cut out of this lucrative agricultural market. Plus, Texans are now free to use CBD without fear of arrest,” Fazio said in a statement.
Cannabis laws were a major issue during the 2019 legislative session that wrapped up May 27. While a bill to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana failed, lawmakers approved an effort to slightly expand who can access medical cannabis under the state’s Compassionate Use Act. That bill is still waiting for Abbott’s signature or veto.
The governor has until Sunday, June 16, to make a decision.
Gee, Bud (you know, Abbott), what you been smoking lately? Bwahahahahahahahah! And when you make marijuana legal, let me know….
“A federally approved program” What the heck do the feds have to do with Texas?
So is this growing exclusive to the farming industry?
Whatever, Abbott, you can’t pass a “law” making something legal which could NEVER have been illegal in the first place. Well, at least the blackwater goons won’t be killing people over hemp because it’s now “legal”.
I read sometime back that folks will have to register & inform the state that one is growing it.
Whatever!!!! Criminals abound!! Now the beaners will have more work.
hemp can be used in the production of many products including………….rope 🙂
The best kind for the purpose