Tag: hemp

Nebraska AG Sends Threat Letters To Retailers Over Alleged Sales Of Illegal THC Products

The owners of 82 smoke and vape shops and other THC-friendly retailers in Lincoln are receiving cease and desist letters this week from Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers (R) about selling THC-containing products.

Hilgers, the state’s top prosecutor, ramped back up his push to get stores to stop selling delta-8, delta-9 and other products containing tetrahydrocannabinol that he argues offer people an unregulated, unsafe, illegal way to get high.

Store owners in several cities that Hilgers has targeted have argued state law is unclear about the legality of selling the products. Some have argued that federal law might have a loophole allowing it.

Hilgers had said he would pause his efforts to warn and then sue retailers still offering the targeted THC products if the Legislature in the 2025 session passed a bill to clearly make them illegal in the state, which stalled. The bill is likely to return in 2026.

His office, which also files civil cases to enforce state law, has sent the letters to 204 stores statewide alleging unfair business practices, deception and violations of safety requirements for food. That tally includes 104 stores in Omaha, four in Kearney and three in Nebraska City.

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Texas Hemp THC Ban and Medical Marijuana Expansion Set to Become Law on Monday

With the deadline for gubernatorial action falling on Sunday, June 22, both bills are now expected to become law without Abbott’s signature unless he issues a rare weekend veto.

If no veto is delivered by the end of Sunday, the measures will automatically take effect. House Bill 46 would significantly broaden the state’s limited compassionate use program by adding eligibility for patients with chronic pain, terminal illness, and traumatic brain injuries. It would also expand the number of licensed dispensaries from three to fifteen and legalize new product forms, such as patches and inhalers.

Senate Bill 3 would prohibit nearly all hemp-derived THC products—including delta-8, delta-10, and THCO—when intended for ingestion, inhalation, or topical use. Only trace THC amounts would be allowed in non-intoxicating products like CBD. If enacted, the ban would deal a major blow to Texas’ multibillion-dollar hemp THC industry. The restrictions would take effect September 1.

Despite both bills passing with strong bipartisan support, Abbott said earlier this week that he was still undecided on the hemp ban. With time running out, stakeholders are bracing for the likelihood that both measures will quietly become law on Monday, June 23.

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“What in the World Would Justify Doing This?”: A Texas Vet and Hemp-Business Owner on the Looming THC Ban

By Sunday, Texans will know whether the hemp-derived THC products that have been legal in the state since 2019 will be banned as of September 1. During the Eighty-Ninth Legislature, lawmakers passed Senate Bill 3, which would end a $5.5 billion industry and which now sits on Governor Greg Abbott’s desk. Sunday is the deadline for him to either veto the bill—breaking with Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, who made SB 3 a priority during the session and pushed it through both chambers with zeal—or allow it to become law. 

Lukas Gilkey, an Austin-based U.S. Coast Guard veteran, cofounded the cannabis company Hometown Hero, which has been producing hemp-derived THC products since 2019, and has emerged as one of the most outspoken opponents of the ban. The 44-year-old has gone viral for his social media posts responding to Patrick and defending the industry. With just days to go before Abbott determines the fate of the industry, we asked him to explain his position and make his pitch to the governor for why weed is good for Texas.  

Texas Monthly: So there’s an argument that legalization of these products in 2019 was kind of an accident: The Legislature legalized hemp, mirroring language that appeared in the federal farm bill the previous year, and in the process allowed the proliferation of certain derivatives that it did not consider. And so the argument goes that what it has done this session is just correcting an oversight. Does that hold water for you? 

Lukas Gilkey: Knowingly or unknowingly, they legalized these products, and subsequently a fully legal industry was created from that decision. This industry has over four billion dollars in retail sales in Texas. It’s created over 53,000 jobs, over eight thousand small businesses. If they wanted to correct it, it should have been done much sooner, rather than letting so many Texans enter this industry under the assumption it was legal and the politicians were okay with it. They allowed this thing to grow and then changed their mind six years later when they could have done it in 2021. Why did they not? 

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Texas medical marijuana companies spent big on Republican lobbyists to push THC ban

Gov. Greg Abbott has a choice when it comes to banning hemp-derived delta-8 and delta-9 THC products: listen to hundreds of thousands of Texans who enjoy them or a handful of powerful Republican lobbyists working for marijuana investors.

Abbott is in the crossfire of a cannabis civil war. Medical marijuana and retail hemp companies are fighting over who can legally get people high. The standoff is typical Texas politics, with the medical marijuana companies hiring former aides to Abbott and Lt. Gov Dan Patrick to lobby for them, and the hemp industry relying on public pressure.

The Texas Legislature authorized medical marijuana in 2017 for a tiny number of patients. Three medical cannabis companies have spent millions complying with the Texas Compassionate Use Program to legally sell products with THC, the ingredient in marijuana that makes you high. They expected exclusivity. Since then, lawmakers have steadily expanded TCUP to treat more conditions, adding people with chronic pain this year.

In 2021, cannabis-focused venture capital firm AFI Capital Partners led a $21 million Series B investment in Texas Original Compassionate Cultivation. The company supplied 77% of the medical cannabis consumed in 2022, the latest full-year data available in an annual Texas Department of Public Safety TCUP analysis.

The investment had horrible timing. In 2019, federal and state lawmakers legalized hemp, a type of cannabis with low levels of THC. Hemp entrepreneurs figured out how to concentrate the THC, and today, the hemp industry primarily sells edibles containing enough THC to get you stoned.

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Why Is Texas Supporting Psychedelics Research While Criminalizing Cannabis?

Texas just announced it will invest $50 million into studying ibogaine, a powerful psychedelic drug that remains illegal at the federal level. The goal? To develop it into a potential Food and Drug Administration-approved treatment for conditions like opioid use disorder, PTSD and depression; especially among veterans.

On the surface, this might sound like a bold and progressive move. But here’s the irony: at the very same time, Texas continues to criminalize cannabis and might soon even outlaw hemp-derived THC products.

Let’s break this down. Cannabis, a plant with centuries of use, decades of medical data and broad public support remains illegal for adult use in Texas. Despite overwhelming national support for legalization—a staggering 88 percent of Americans now back medical or recreational cannabis use)—the state has chosen to double down on prohibition, with lawmakers sending Gov. Greg Abbott (R) a bill that would outlaw consumable hemp products with any traces of THC. He has until Sunday to decide whether to allow that ban to take effect.

Even worse, prohibition isn’t stopping anything. The black market is thriving in Texas. Cartels and illicit operators flood the state with unregulated, untested cannabis. No taxes are collected, no consumer protections exist and legal hemp retailers are now being threatened. It is a misguided public safety argument deluded by a lack of facts and science, political conservatism, contradictory business objectives and outdated stigmas.

Meanwhile, ibogaine, a hallucinogenic alkaloid that can induce intense psychedelic experiences, is now the subject of a $50 million state-funded research push. The same lawmakers who claim cannabis is too dangerous and not well studied are throwing their support behind a compound with far less research and much more uncertainty with the intent of studying it.

This isn’t a critique of psychedelic medicine. Ibogaine may very well hold incredible therapeutic value. But if Texas is willing to support cutting-edge, controversial treatments for serious mental health and addiction issues, why not start with widely available data and access to cannabis? Cannabis has already been shown to help with chronic pain, anxiety, sleep, seizures and opioid dependency.

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75,000 pounds of THC products seized in DFW raids as Texas Gov. Abbott weighs statewide ban

Police raided locations across DFW on Tuesday in a year-long investigation into THC sales. 

The Allen Police Department, with help from the DEA, seized products at three warehouses in Dallas, while other agencies raided the owners’ homes in Carrollton, Colleyville, and Plano.

Allen’s police chief took the CBS News Texas crew inside one of the warehouses as officers pulled products off the shelves. 

According to early estimates from Allen PD, investigators seized over 75,000 pounds of THC products and $7 million worth of cash and assets in Tuesday’s raids.   

Chief Steve Dye said the warehouse raids are the product of an investigation that began more than a year ago with undercover purchases at shops in Allen. The I-Team documented how the Allen Police Department’s narcotics unit bought and tested the items ahead of raids at nine stores last August. Investigators said the illegal products found in Allen are being supplied by the warehouses in Dallas. 

“You don’t have to go to your drug dealer anymore to buy drugs,” said Dye. “You can go to a vape shop on any corner.” 

He believes the products found on store shelves are more dangerous than illegal drugs because, Dye said, the false sense of safety has led to an explosion in use.

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Federal Bill Would ‘Effectively’ Ban All Consumable Hemp Products—’Including CBD’—Congressional Researchers Say

A federal spending bill that’s advancing in the House would “effectively” prohibit hemp-derived cannabinoid products, including CBD, congressional researchers say.

In a report published by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) last week, legislative analysts looked at the potential impact of hemp-related provisions that advocates and stakeholders say would devastate a core sector of the industry.

While report language attached to the 2026 appropriations bill was recently amended to clarify lawmakers’ intent not to disrupt the non-intoxicating cannabinoid market—signaling that products like CBD shouldn’t be banned—the legislation itself hasn’t changed and could still jeopardize the industry without further amendments to its provisions.

The CRS analysis, which came out after the bill’s report language was revised, seems to validate the industry’s concerns about the legislation, explaining how it would “expand on the existing statutory definition of hemp,” which currently means cannabis containing no more than 0.3 percent THC by dry weight, “to include industrial hemp products and exclude hemp-derived cannabinoid products.”

“Excluding hemp-derived cannabinoid products from the federal definition of hemp effectively would prohibit production and sale of hemp-derived cannabinoids, derivatives, and extracts thereof, including cannabidiol (CBD),” it says. “Excluded cannabinoids would cover also non-naturally occurring and synthesized or manufactured compounds.”

“The proposed provision would make other broader changes to the hemp definition by changing the allowable limits of THC—the leading psychoactive cannabinoid in the cannabis plant—to be determined on the basis of its total THC, including tetrahydrocannabinolic acid (THCA), instead of delta-9 THC. This would codify the regulatory practice established in USDA’s 2021 final hemp regulations. The provision would exclude from hemp ‘any viable seeds from a Cannabis sativa L. plant’ that exceed a total THC (including THCA) of 0.3 percent in the plant on a dry weight basis.”

As it stands, the legislation has cleared a House Appropriations subcommittee—but while it was discussed in the full committee last week, members ultimately did not act on it before recessing for a district work period. The panel is set to take the bill back up next week.

Before breaking, however, the full panel did adopt a manager’s amendment to the attached report from Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD), a vocal opponent of cannabis reform. Despite his personal opposition, the revised report clarifies that the panel does not intend to prohibit non-intoxicating cannabinoid products with “trace or insignificant amounts of THC” that were federally legalized during the first Trump administration.

“In determining the quantifiable amounts, the Committee does not intend for industrial or nonintoxicating hemp-derived cannabinoid products with trace or insignificant amounts of THC to be affected,” it says.

Harris said in opening remarks at last week’s hearing that the legislation closes “the hemp loophole from the 2018 Farm Bill.”

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Missouri AG Sends Cease And Desist Letters To 18 Hemp Companies, Warning More Are On The Way

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey (R) has sent several cease-and-desist letters to companies selling a hemp product called THCA flower that looks exactly like marijuana flower sold at dispensaries.

Bailey’s letters threaten legal action, including injunctions, civil penalties and attorney’s fees if the companies continue to sell the products.

“When purchasing products, Missourians deserve to know if they are being exposed to dangerous side effects like psychotic episodes, hallucinations or other life-threatening risks,” said Attorney General Bailey in a statement to The Independent. “We have issued 18 cease and desist letters so far, and more are forthcoming.”

Cannabis lobbyist Eapen Thampy said about a dozen smoke shops in St. Louis received the letters, and in some cases, THCA flower makes up 60 percent to 80 percent of the companies’ inventories.

Thampy said he’s working with the companies to put together a response to the letters and preparing for potential litigation.

The action is the first major move since Bailey created a new specialized unit last fall, with the aim to assist the state’s alcohol and tobacco regulators in cracking down on intoxicating hemp products.

In September, Bailey vowed his new unit would work with the Missouri Alcohol and Tobacco Control (ATC) Division to bring legal action against licensees selling unregulated psychoactive cannabis products that violate the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act.

“The ATC will assist by making its investigators available as witnesses for legal proceedings resulting from actionable referrals,” Bailey said in September. “Our enforcement toolkit will be robust from cease-and-desist letters and investigations to subpoenas and lawsuits to referrals for criminal prosecution where appropriate.”

The letters that went out last month state that the companies are “directed to cease and desist from selling” hemp products that contain more than 0.3 percent THCA on a dry weight basis. THCA is a naturally abundant cannabinoid that transforms into Delta-9 THC when smoked or heated.

However, this is not what an official cease and desist order looks like, said Jefferson City-based attorney Chuck Hatfield.

“It is an informal cease and desist,” Hatfield said. “It is not a letter that has the force and effect of law. It’s more in the nature of a request to stop.”

Under state law, if Bailey wanted to issue an official cease and desist order—as he did for Planned Parenthood in March—Hatfield said Bailey would have to issue a notice of intent first. The company would have the right to appeal through an administrative hearing, as well as challenge the order in court.

“But he hasn’t done any of that,” Hatfield said.

Bailey could also file a lawsuit under Missouri Merchandising Practices Act, and that doesn’t require a cease and desist order, he said.

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Rhode Island Bills To Restrict Hemp THC Drinks Ignore Science And Current Regulations

As co-founder of Rhode Island’s only U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) organic hemp farm, and the largest outdoor cannabis farm in the state, I’ve spent the last eight years helping build the hemp industry from the ground up.

At Lovewell Farms, we’ve operated under one of the strictest regulatory frameworks in the country, subject to licensing, batch testing, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) limits, secure packaging requirements and product traceability. Yet two recently proposed bills, H6056 and H6270, would cut licensed hemp farms like ours out of the very market we helped establish.

These bills, introduced by Democratic Reps. Jacquelyn Baginski of Cranston and Scott Slater of Providence, aim to regulate the sale of hemp-derived beverages containing delta-9 THC, the compound most commonly associated with cannabis intoxication.

Slater’s bill would specifically eliminate the sale of such beverages and drink mix powders in Rhode Island, unless these products are specifically included in the state’s cannabis laws. The bills misrepresent both the science behind these products and the legal infrastructure already in place.

During a recent House hearing, Rep. Baginski stated, “I was surprised to learn that hemp-based THC products are also available in the marketplace and largely sold unregulated…at any establishment with a retail sales permit. That could be a convenience store, a hair salon, a gas station, anywhere.”

Respectfully, this is inaccurate. In Rhode Island, consumable hemp products must be produced by licensed handlers and tested by certified labs. They are subject to strict limits on THC content, comprehensive labeling standards, and age restrictions. If some products are being sold outside these rules, that’s a failure of enforcement, not evidence of an unregulated system.

Rep. Slater’s testimony in support of his bill, which would effectively ban all hemp-derived THC beverages unless sold through a dispensary, also included misleading claims. He asserted that “the hemp-derived THC products are now being sold outside the regulated cannabis system with minimal oversight, including limited testing, weak labeling, no seed-to-sale tracking as well as avoidance of cannabis taxes.”

This characterization erases the work of licensed hemp producers who follow every requirement the state imposes, many of whom, like us, already distribute specific products through dispensaries and operate with full compliance under existing cannabis laws.

Slater went on to say that allowing hemp beverages undermines Rhode Island’s cannabis cultivators, whom he described as his constituents. “I really find it unfair that as soon as this market has started that we’re trying to undermine them…and allowing folks that found kind of a loophole with this synthetically altered hemp in drinks…without going through the same framework that everyone else has.”

But our farm has always followed the framework. There is no loophole for us, just increasing restrictions on products we’ve made legally, safely and transparently for years.

Both bills ignore a crucial scientific fact: Not all hemp products are intoxicating.

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Key GOP Congressmen, Including Pro-Marijuana Legalization Member, Defend Effort to Ban Consumable Hemp Products

Key GOP congressional lawmakers—including one member who supports marijuana legalization—don’t seem especially concerned about provisions in a new spending bill that would put much of the hemp industry in jeopardy by banning most consumable products derived from the plant.

In interviews with Marijuana Moment, Congressional Cannabis Caucus co-chair Rep. Dave Joyce (R-OH) and House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glen Thompson (R-PA), as well as Rep. Lou Correa (D-CA), weighed in on the hemp language in the large-scale bill that cleared the the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies on Thursday.

Under the measure, hemp would be redefined under federal statute in a way that would prohibit cannabis products containing any “quantifiable” amount of THC or “any other cannabinoids that have similar effects (or are marketed to have similar effects) on humans or animals” as THC.

While Joyce backs legalizing and regulating cannabis for adult use, he said the language from the 2018 Farm Bill that federally legalized hemp and its derivatives “has been the stepping stone for the gas station delivery of intoxicants, whether that’s hemp or chemically manufactured [products] or whatever other shit it is that they sell at gas stations.”

“And there’s no age limit on it. So you’re handcuffing the regular cannabis industry that has strict standards that they have to meet everywhere, and yet this industry has flourished,” he said, adding that problems with the current law have been “exacerbated by people because there are some allegations that [intoxicating hemp products are] cannabis. It’s not hemp anymore.”

The congressman also seemed to endorse a push in Ohio to make it so intoxicating hemp products could only be sold to adults at licensed marijuana dispensaries. He said he told Gov. Mike DeWine (R) that, regardless of his views on the issue, the problem is the “gas station stuff that the kids are getting that all these people are up in arms about.”

That said, Joyce said while he does feel the 2018 Farm Bill’s hemp provisions included a “loophole” that’s been exploited, he hasn’t read the text of the latest legislation yet.

“I’m all for regulating the industry… It has to be regulated so that only adults are getting it,” he said.

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