With all the surrounding attention to the numerous cannabis decriminalization and medical expansion pieces of legislation in the 2019 Texas Legislative Session, all types of viewpoints have come to the political surface. There’s the legalization advocacy groups who desire more qualifying conditions for the current “medical cannabis” program that’s still very much in its infancy along with full recreational legalization, criminal justice reform advocates who hope that decriminalization will result in significantly fewer low-level arrests for marijuana and then there’s everyone’s favorite; the Texas Police Chiefs Association.
Throughout their recent press conferences urging Texan lawmakers not to pass any decriminalization bills, they’ve claimed that “Texas will become a third world country like Colorado” if we legalize cannabis, that only a “small percent of the population” support cannabis reform and most egregiously, Grand Prairie Police Chief Steve Dye alluded to political corruption in legalized states from cannabis without giving any evidence whatsoever. Some of these prohibitionist viewpoints may appear ridiculous, but these public displays of opposition show that cannabis is still a very debated subject, albeit one that the majority of America support reformations behind.
However, one vital crop that the Lone Star State appears to be in a virtual consensus about is the very debated plant’s much less controversial cousin, a cousin so clean cut that no psychoactive components are located in the plant. Industrial hemp, in all its usefulness, has received a boom of support following the passing of the 2018 Farming Act and droves of Texan farmers interested in utilizing the plant for the many products it can produce. And with the possible passage of House Bill 1325, industrial hemp could become a reality in the very dominant Texas agricultural industry.
Earlier this week, the Texas Department of State Health Services announced that they would be removing hemp from the state’s list of Schedule I Controlled Substances on April 5th, making the research and cultivation of this crop nowhere near as legally reprehensible and removing it from the same group of actually dangerous and highly psychoactive narcotics like cocaine and LSD.
And arguably the most high profile elected official and 8th-generation farmer in Texas to become a staunch advocate for the many uses and products of industrial hemp is Agricultural Commissioner and Doug Dimmadome cosplayer Sid Miller. In February, the deeply conservative Miller gave an interview with Austin affiliate KVUE, where he praised the potential of prosperity from producing hemp for Texas farmers and the many possibilities with industrial hemp legalization.
And earlier this week, Miller once again continued his openly vocal support of industrial hemp and the medical uses of CBD to NBC Channel 5 in the DFW area while once again assuring that THC will remain illegal.
“There will be more hemp grown than we could ever process.” Miller strongly assured. Miller also stated that if industrial hemp were to become permitted in Texas, his agency would have a very conservative and hands-off approach to regulating the plant and only subscribe to whatever federal policies are in effect. (1)
On Monday, a House committee meeting on hemp legalization drew swarms of crowds, from farmers who could benefit from industrial hemp to patients who’ve found tremendous relief through CBD, all of whom supported HB 1325 wholeheartedly. Surprisingly unlike the Criminal Jurisprudence meetings on HB 63 and decriminalization efforts, not a single attendant throughout the hearing spoke out against industrial hemp/CBD production.
The future of cannabis decriminalization and medical expansion in Texas may continue to be debated, but it’s reassuring to know that the deeply politically divided state can agree on hemp’s many usages and the limitless potential that the crop contains.