Texas state lawmakers, led in large part by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, spent much of this past year trying unsuccessfully to enact a , the main intoxicating chemical in marijuana. But after their last attempt, Congress passed what amounts to a on the sale of such products, set to take effect in November of next year.
Congress passed the ban last month as part of a legislative package that ended the record-long federal government shutdown. Specifically, the measure bans hemp products with a total THC concentration of more than 0.4%.
"That pretty much takes the Delta-8, Delta-9, Delta-10, off the market," said Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, a Republican. "So, if this stays as written, those 6,000 businesses across the state of Texas will probably be out of business because they won鈥檛 have any product to sell other than regular CBD oil and derivatives."
The question is whether the ban will stay as written.
"I predict that within the next 12 months, there鈥檒l be a lobbying effort by the THC industry to relax the rules a bit, take a closer look at it and see if they can鈥檛 come up with a with a compromise," Miller said.
State attorneys general, aligned with the alcoholic beverages industry, proved a formidable lobbying combination in favor of prohibition. But having been taken by surprise, the hemp industry is now mobilizing its own forces to change the law before it goes into force.
"I鈥檓 hopeful that over the next year, sense enters into the equation, and some of our elected officials realize the big mistake that was made and correct it," said Kenneth Berner, co-owner of Burners Vape, Smoke, and Herb, which has dispensaries near Houston in Bacliff and League City.
Just a plant?
It's been a rough year for Sadie, who lives southeast of Houston. She asked her last name be withheld for fear of legal repercussions.
"I have dealt with a significant death in my life. Sobriety has been something that I鈥檝e struggled with in the past, as well as anxiety and depression. I broke my leg two years ago, so I鈥檝e been in chronic pain," Sadie said.
Sadie said marijuana has not only controlled her anxiety and pain. It's also kept her otherwise sober for the past year-and-a-half, she said.
"I have no desire to go back whatsoever," she said. "And to me, it鈥檚 an absolute miracle."
Functionally, she says, there's no difference between marijuana and other hemp products other than potency. She's struggling to grasp why Congress has decided to crack down on THC use, particularly when substances considered to be more addictive remain not only legal but prescribed by doctors.
"My addiction was never with pills, but they鈥檒l hand me Norco post-surgery,鈥� Sadie said, referring to an opioid. 鈥淏ut at the same time, if I want to treat it myself with the use of medical marijuana, I鈥檝e got the government telling me that it鈥檚 illegal, and I鈥檝e lost friends to opiates as well. It鈥檚 been frustrating, to say the least, because, in my opinion, at the end of the day, it is nothing more than a plant. ... We鈥檙e not talking about adding derivatives to these things."
While the impending ban has been called 鈥溾�� for the recreational hemp industry, it would not ban medical marijuana use in states that have legalized medical dispensaries, including Texas.
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Supporters of a ban on other THC products argue it's needed because manufacturers have been adding synthetics that make it far more potent 鈥� and dangerous 鈥� particularly when it鈥檚 marketed and sold to minors. Patrick and state Sen. Charles Perry (R-Lubbock), the author of during the 2025 regular Texas state legislative session, have advanced that argument repeatedly over the past year.
鈥淭his stuff鈥檚 going to kids,鈥� Perry said in March, shortly before the state Senate passed SB 3. 鈥淭his is changing people's life in short order, because it's been marketed as something that is safe and legal, and it鈥檚 anything but.鈥�
SB 3 passed the House as well, but Gov. Greg Abbott , citing concerns that it would not withstand a court challenge. The Legislature failed to pass a revised bill during either of the two special sessions that followed, which were dominated by the .
Abbott subsequently moved to via executive order. That put him , who argued that anything short of a ban was equivalent to decriminalizing marijuana statewide.
"The governor has stated he does not want to legalize marijuana in Texas," Patrick said, "but testimony from law enforcement and others say that is exactly what will happen."
Berner said his immediate reaction to the federal ban was panic. But the closer he looked at it, the less sense it made to him.
"According to them, our products are so dangerous ... we have to protect America. We鈥檝e got to get rid of it. We鈥檝e got to ban it," Berner said. "Why are you giving me a year to sell out the rest of my product, then? If it鈥檚 so dangerous, how is a year of peddling dangerous products safe for the American people? I don鈥檛 understand that."
"I'll come out and destroy it"
Miller, the Texas agriculture commissioner, said the advantage of a federal ban is that it provides a uniform standard of enforcement across the country.
"Prior to that, it was kind of just a patchwork. You know, Texas had something. Oregon had something different. Colorado, different," Miller said. "So, now everybody鈥檚 under the same rule."
Miller said he's not particularly concerned about the effects on farmers that have been growing hemp since the state legalized it six years ago. Wichita Falls in north Texas now hosts the largest hemp-processing plant in North America.
"I know they contracted over 10,000 acres of industrial hemp. This hemp, you don鈥檛 make oil out of it. You make products out of it. It's a fiber," he said.
The trick is making sure the hemp grown maintains that maximum 0.4% THC content.
"You have to get a permit from me, Texas Department of Agriculture," Miller said, "And you have to have a pre-harvest test. So, you have to run the test before you harvest. And if it鈥檚 over 0.4%, I鈥檒l come out and destroy it. You can鈥檛 use that crop. So, it still has to be under the limit."
Miller said virtually all hemp grown in Texas for industrial purposes falls under that 0.4% maximum concentration. But Beau Whitney, an economist who consults for the hemp industry, is skeptical.
"Even plants that are intended for industrial purposes, such as hemp fiber plants, these are at risk of not being compliant because of this strict definition," Whitney said. "This impacts the construction industry, the plastic industry, the automobile parts industry, and textiles in particular, because the farmers, their harvest may or may not pass."
Whitney says hemp-derived sales in Texas came to approximately $5.5 billion last year, with an economic impact on the state of nearly twice that. He says the federal ban could cost the state at least 53,000 jobs. That's just at shops that sell hemp-based consumables 鈥� shops like Kenneth and Ellen Berner's.
"If it doesn鈥檛 get rolled back," Kenneth Berner said of the new law, "the only thing I can tell you on that is we鈥檙e probably going to have to lose some of our associates. My wife and I will probably have to go back to, instead of focusing on expansion and growing our business, just maintaining. ... And we鈥檒l be hanging on by a thread to try and survive at that point."
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