Texas

A political consultant working for the agriculture commissioner of Texas has been arrested for his role in an alleged pay-to-play hemp licensing scheme.

The Texas House approved expansions to the state’s medical cannabis program that would raise the THC limit from 0.5% to 5% and legalize access for patients with chronic pain, PTSD, and cancer.

A key committee in Texas’ House has advanced a proposal containing expansions to the state’s limited medical cannabis program.

A recent poll found that 60 percent of Texans are ready to legalize cannabis “for any use.”

Police in Fort Worth, Texas have opted out of enforcing low-level cannabis possession laws due to the legal status of hemp, which is indistinguishable from cannabis without lab testing.

Texas Senator-elect Roland Gutierrez has pre-filed a bill that aims to legalize cannabis in Texas and dramatically expand the state’s limited medical cannabis program.

Hemp entrepreneurs and advocates are suing the state of Texas over regulations that ban smokeable forms of hemp products, arguing that the ban is unconstitutional.

Texas is about to institute a statewide ban on the sale of smokeable hemp products. However, the ban does not prevent Texans from ordering smokeable hemp products online.

Law enforcement must stop arresting people over low-level cannabis crimes under a new law in San Marcos, Texas.

A recent study suggests that female cannabis users experience more intense cannabis cravings than their male counterparts.

The El Paso, Texas City Council has approved a “cite and release” policy for the possession of up to two ounces of cannabis.

Panda Biotech announced it is donating 60 tons of hemp fiber seed to Texas farmers as the state’s hemp industry takes off.

Texas regulators issued the state’s first industrial hemp license this week; Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller said it was “just the beginning.”

The Texas Department of Public Safety told law enforcement that state labs won’t be conducting cannabis lab tests for misdemeanor possession cases.

The Austin, Texas City Council has approved a resolution that blocks police from using city funds on lab tests for low-level cannabis possession cases, effectively decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of cannabis.

A man who was jailed in Texas on federal drug charges has been freed after nearly a month; he was freed when lab tests finally confirmed his 3,350-pound hemp shipment contained less than 0.3 percent THC.

Since hemp legalization took effect in the state last June, cannabis prosecutions in Texas have plummetted by 66%.

South Carolina police have destroyed a 180-pound shipment of hemp after it was confiscated during a traffic stop; the hemp was being delivered from a North Carolina cultivator to a Texas distributor.

Dallas-based Panda Biotech has unveiled plans to build the country’s largest industrial hemp processing facility in Shallowater, Texas.

The Texas medical cannabis dispensary applications portal was shut down without warning after just one week on the Texas Department of Public Safety’s website.

Due to the hemp legalization law passed by Texas last month, some cities are dropping cannabis possession charges as it has become too hard to distinguish between industrial hemp flower and cannabis.

Texas is the latest state to adopt hemp legalization language after the plant’s federal restrictions were lifted last year. The plan still needs USDA approval, which is unlikely to happen for this year’s growing season.

The bill — which expands medical cannabis in the state by adding seven new conditions to the program’s qualifying conditions list and removing a requirement for patients to have two doctors’ recommendations before accessing the program — now goes to Gov. Greg Abbott for his signature.

The Texas Senate has advanced a bill containing several expansions to the state’s medical cannabis program; the measure still needs reconciliation by the House, however, who could seek further amendments to the legislation.