Texas

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.

The bill, which passed the Senate unanimously, now returns to the House for reconciliation by lawmakers there; senators added language implementing random CBD product testing and heavy fines against people whose hemp crops exceed 0.3 percent THC.

The Texas House has approved a second bill this session expanding the state’s limited medical cannabis program — the legislature’s recent advances, however, are expected to face an uphill battle in the Senate.

There were zero votes in opposition to the bill, which would legalize production of industrial hemp in Texas.

The new District Attorney for Dallas County, Texas says he will no longer prosecute low-level cannabis crimes for first-time offenders.

Texas hemp regulators plan to enforce just the minimal federal standards to help farmers and foster the industry’s growth.

A decriminalization bill was introduced into the Texas House of Representatives on Monday. It’s the third time such legislation has been introduced in Texas.

The idea of a privately-funded border wall on the U.S.-Mexico border has garnered quite a few donations — but whether it will be built, and what building materials might be used, remains to be seen.

Texas is in the minority of states that haven’t passed major cannabis reform legislation, but mounting pressure from both within and outside the state could result in significant progress on that front in 2019.