Everything’s bigger in Texas — including Reefer Madness 🤠

EVERYTHING’S BIGGER
Reefer Madness is alive and well in Texas 🤠

Driving the news: The Texas Senate’s Committee on State Affairs held its first hearing of the special legislative session that began on Monday, focused on a second attempt to ban hemp this year.

State lawmakers in June passed a near-total ban on intoxicating hemp products, only for Governor Greg Abbott to issue a last-hour veto. 

Abbott said at the time he was concerned that a pending Circuit Court decision would render state hemp bans illegal, but one day later that Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Arkansas’s ban on hemp products.

What happened: A new bill introduced during the special session, SB 5, would essentially ban all hemp-derived cannabinoids with the exception of CBD and CBG, which don’t have the same psychoactive effect as THC. 

The Senate committee ultimately advanced the bill 10-0, and lawmakers unleashed a litany of anti-pot histrionics. 

What they’re saying: “In a word, if you get high from the product, it is illegal,” Sen. Charles Perry, the main sponsor of SB 5, said. 

Perry opened the hearing with a series of scare-mongering sound bites about how the state’s hemp industry plagues the children of Texas like a horde of vampires slinging sugar-coated poison.

He also said: “Back in the Hippy days, there was about 5% THC. Now, bags of flower are sometimes as high as 80% THC,” he said. 

“Law enforcement can tell you that it’s the new meth.” 

And more: “What markets have shown that have regulated recreational pot is that black markets flourish because by the time the good actors, so to speak, sign up, pay their fees and drive the cost of the product, the black market guys stand on the corner for $10 cheaper,” he added.

Perry also opined that intoxicating hemp products — which contain THC derived from federally legal hemp — may have been responsible for the Uvalde school shooting, from May 24, 2022. 

Go deeper: There are an estimated 8,000 businesses in the state that say they rely on hemp remaining legal. 

Perry dismissed this claim, arguing that about 2,000 of those shops can go back to selling tobacco products, while the remaining 6,000 are gas stations, convenience stores, or other shops that already specialize in non-cannabis products.

Failing that, Perry added that store owners can also sue those who convinced them that hemp was an honest business.

“It is a false narrative that you’re going to put them out of business,” he said. 

“To those store owners that bought into this industry with good faith, you have an alternative. You can go after these people that lied to you and took your money, in a court of law.”

Cheaper to ban: Perry also claimed that Texas, whose legislature recently voted to expand the Texas Compassionate Use Program (TCUP) to include chronic pain as a qualifying condition and to increase the number of available operator licenses from three to 15, is among the most accessible in the country.

Steve Dye, of the Texas Police Chiefs Associations, explained that he did not believe that the state could afford to regulate hemp and that it would be more cost-effective to outright ban it.

“It would take decades, in our opinion, and millions and millions of dollars to hire and train agents to understand chemistry, potency thresholds, lab testing and labeling compliance,” he said.

“They will never be able to keep pace with retailers, wholesalers and shippers.” 

On the other hand: There were later some voices opposed to a hemp ban, most of which spoke in favor of some regulation while decrying an outright ban. 

"I fully support banning marketing to children. SB 5 puts an entire industry at risk and penalizes responsible business owners like myself," Eddie Velez, owner of Oak Cliff Cultivators and president of the Texas Hemp Coalition, an industry group, said. 

The final word: Despite his earlier veto, Abbott may not be the ally hemp business owners hoped for.

"The only hemp product that's going to be out there is non-intoxicating hemp, which is below 3 milligrams of THC," he told Community Impact News.  

-ZH

Jay and Jeremy caught up on Tuesday with Charlotte’s Web CEO Bill Morachnick. 

Bill took over the reins of one of the most iconic cannabis brands just under two years ago and chatted about how he’s pushing the Charlotte’s Web product portfolio forward. We also talked about Bill’s time in Alaska — you won’t want to miss it.

"We congratulate Terry Cole on his confirmation as [DEA] Administrator. During his hearing, Cole identified advancing the agency's review of rescheduling as a priority. We look forward to working with the Trump Admin. to move our nation beyond the failed policies of the past," The US Cannabis Roundtable, the biggest industry trade group, said on social media, reacting to Cole’s Senate confirmation. 

Cole has said restarting the process to move cannabis to Schedule III from the most restrictive Schedule I would be "one of his first priorities," but he has also made anti-cannabis comments in the past.

Many in the cannabis industry are hopeful about Cole’s appointment, but it remains to be seen what the agency does with regards to rescheduling. Read more about Cole’s complex history with cannabis policy, here. 

Congressional bill seeks to allow cannabis across state lines 👀

A new bill filed by Democratic lawmakers would, if passed, allow cannabis to be shipped across state lines via the US Postal Service. Cannabis is federally illegal so cannot be transported across state lines. Read more. 

Massachusetts cannabis soars 📈

Massachusetts’s cannabis market reached a sales milestone: Over $8 billion worth of product sold since legalization in 2018, as of the first half of July 2025, according to the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission. 

New Oklahoma recreational cannabis ballot initiative in the works 🗳️

Senate Question (SQ) 837, which would legalize cannabis in the state, has reached the signature collection, reports Oklahoma Voice. That means proponents have 90 days to collect enough signatures for the measure to appear on the 2026 ballot. Oklahoma legalized medical cannabis in 2018.

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Cannabis vape market expected to boom by 2030 😮‍💨

The cannabis vape market is expected to more than double by 2030 reaching $14.7 billion, per a new report from Research and Markets. The report says vapes can offer more discreet, intense highs compared to bongs or joints. . 

Maine operator transitions to ESOP 🤝

Atlantic Farms, a small Maine company with 30 employees and three dispensary locations, announced that it has converted into an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP). The conversion is the latest example of cannabis businesses figuring out that ESOPs allow them to avoid having to pay onerous 280E taxes, a federal code that prohibits cannabis firms from deducting expenses.

Youth cannabis use remains flat and schizophrenia stable, researcher says 🧪

Ryan Vandry, a Johns Hopkins psychologist and cannabis expert, said youth cannabis use has remained flat despite more states legalizing the drug for consumption, and that while past-year cannabis use has doubled in the US, schizophrenia rates have remained stagnant. The link between cannabis and psychosis is often cited by anti-legalization groups. Vandy spoke at a webinar hosted by the federal Substances and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Read more.

The New York Cannabis Control Board will host a meeting on Friday, July 25 in Troy. Go here for more details — and we’ll bring you the key takeaways next week.

New York marijuana testing lab at center of recall quietly exited industry | MJBizDaily

Florida plays key role in national medical marijuana movement, advocates say | Florida’s Voice