Texas has banned the sale of most smokable THC products, leading consumers back to the black market or causing them to order from companies outside of the state and its economy.
While recreational and medical marijuana are illegal in Texas, a cannabinoid called THC-A was able to be sold in places like smoke shops and gas stations. The rules enacted March 31 crack down on this so-called loophole, crushing any progress the state has made toward legalization, and its $8 billion hemp industry in the process.
Estimates say 60-70% of the Texas hemp industry’s retail businesses are in danger of going out of business. The fee for retailers who survive and still want to sell less potent, less in-demand hemp products has gone from $150 to $5,000 per year.
Big Pharma, Big Tobacco and Big Alcohol have been lobbying Texas politicians against the public interest for decades. The new rules aren’t actually about a loophole. They’re about making sure certain people keep getting rich, even though they produce products that are scientifically proven to be exponentially more harmful than marijuana.
According to Nielsen convenience store data, cigarette sales in the U.S. dropped by over 3.5 billion packs a year from 2016 to 2024, a period when many states began legalizing and decriminalizing marijuana. And in a 2021 New Frontier survey, 47% of respondents said they have replaced some of their alcohol consumption with marijuana.
People like Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick argue that the hemp products should be illegal because they are unsafe and targeted at children. The issue with this argument is that legalization brings oversight into how the product is cultivated, ensuring that it is safe. Legalization also forces age verification through ID laws, making it more difficult for kids to obtain these products than through the black market.
The ban strangely doesn’t include edibles or drinks, which are less popular than smokeable products, but can still be very potent for many people. While these are relatively harmless, they don’t have the immediate effects that smokable products do, giving way to the possibility of a consumer ingesting too much for their comfort level.
The edibles and drinks often contain high amounts of sugar as well, making it obvious that this isn’t about health or safety, but rather special interests.
A 2022 study by the healthcare technology company BioMed showed that for every state marijuana is legalized, the pharmaceutical industry suffers, on average, nearly $10 billion in market loss.
In a society that normalizes alcohol, tobacco, pharmaceuticals and unhealthy food, it’s odd to see such an intense campaign against holistic medicine, especially from conservatives who are supposed to be supporting personal liberty.
People shouldn’t be told they can’t consume a naturally growing plant that’s been here for at least thousands of years and caused no major issues, the same way people and their kids shouldn’t be forced to take experimental vaccines.
Apparently, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again pitch has gotten lost in the shuffle of the establishment conservative politics President Donald Trump has enabled in his second term.
Another study published in 2022 by the Hartford Healthcare Institute of Living said the odds of being involved in a motor vehicle accident under the influence of marijuana are “significantly less than the 10 to 15 times increase when driving with a blood alcohol concentration of approximately 0.1.”
Alcohol is also frequently cited as a contributing factor to domestic abuse and sexual assault, while marijuana is not. And exactly zero people have died directly from a marijuana overdose, while over 2,000 people per year die directly from alcohol poisoning.
It seemed as if even red states like Texas were slowly catching up with the rest of the Western world when it comes to marijuana, but ignorant, corrupt and spineless politicians are bringing us back to the days of “Reefer Madness” – a 1936 anti-marijuana propaganda film so extreme that it’s now widely viewed through a comedic lens.
To this day, a common stereotype of marijuana use is paranoia, but this is commonly attributed by many marijuana users as simply a fear of losing their job or getting arrested and thrown in jail with violent people, who are actual criminals.
Texas Republicans need to ditch the establishment politics, stop going backward and get marijuana legalized.
