AUSTIN (Nexstar) — State senators on Wednesday considered a ban on Delta 8 and Delta 9 products, the legal cannabis compounds that have sparked a growing industry through a legal loophole allowing a version of high-producing THC to be sold over the counter.
“There’s a lot of issues we need to discuss here,” Senate State Affairs Chairman Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, said. “Banning Delta 8 and Delta 9 and the sale of intoxicating hemp products in Texas, what needs to be done about the sale of these products, and also in particular marketing these products to children.”
Current law allows the sale of products with less than 0.3 percent THC by weight. That has allowed a wide variety of Delta 8 and Delta 9 on the shelves, from gummies to chocolates to oils and mints. The market is largely unregulated and can incentivize “bad actors” who cut their products with carcinogens and other dangers.
“I think there could definitely be some more regulations,” said Reena Kaven, owner of Tribe Cannabinoids in north Austin. “There are people that are bad actors in a business that are working solely for profit, and they’re creating these ‘Frankenstein’ kind of products that are unhealthy for people. And those products are giving the entire market a bad reputation.”
Kaven, however, worries legislators are uninformed about the legitimate medical benefits of cannabis.
“CBD and THC have a long, long history – tens of thousands of years of use for all sorts of ailments supporting pain recovery, all sorts of anxiety and stress,” she said. “What’s happening is the legislators unknowing of what these parts of the plant do for the body are trying to illegalize it based on some false information that these products are being marketed toward children.”
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick directed state senators to consider banning the substances in his 2024 interim charges, but it is unclear how lawmakers will proceed.
