The Texas Senate approved legislation on March 19 that intends to ban consumable hemp products containing any amount of THC or other intoxicating cannabinoids in what would debilitate an $8 billion industry with 50,000 workers.

Lawmakers in the upper chamber voted, 24-7, to pass Senate Bill 3, which Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, sponsors. Also, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has prioritized and pushed for the effort since December.

S.B. 3 now heads to the Texas House. The legislation would repeal parts of House Bill 1325, which Gov. Greg Abbott signed in 2019 to authorize the commercial production, manufacturing and retail sale of industrial hemp crops and products following the federal legalization of hemp in the 2018 Farm Bill.

Perry told his colleagues Wednesday on the Senate floor that the 2019 legislation was intended to support farmers and promote an industrial hemp market that was designed to encourage the development of non-consumable products like fiber.

“However, after 1325 was passed, companies began to blatantly violate, exploit [and] coerce the Texas law by selling products [that] far more exceeded the THC limitations imposed by the definition of the hemp plant,” Perry said. “Illegal high-potency synthetic THC products have flooded the marketplace. … Most of these products are created in a lab.”

While the 2018 Farm Bill legalized hemp, defined as having no more than 0.3% delta-9 THC on a dry-weight basis as tested in the field, the federal legislation does not regulate finished goods, such as delta-8 THC edibles, which exploded into interstate commerce in the years since.

Intoxicating delta-8 THC, which has a double bond on the eighth carbon chain rather than the ninth carbon chain like in delta-9 THC, is often created from a nonintoxicating CBD isolate extracted from hemp through a solvent and acid reaction process.

RELATED: Understanding Delta-8-THC: Where Does It Come From?

Under S.B. 3, license holders would not be allowed to manufacture consumable hemp products containing any amount of a cannabinoid other than nonintoxicating CBD or CBG, according to the bill. This means products containing delta-8 or delta-9 THC derived from hemp would be outlawed in Texas.

Any CBD or CBG product under the legislation would be required to be properly labeled with a certification that any other cannabinoid present in the product is not more than 0.0001% on a dry-weight basis. The products would also require child-resistant packaging.

“For those that argue that this should just be more regulation and tax, there’s not enough tax that we can collect that will deal with the behavioral health issues, the addictions that we currently face in our [Health and Human Services Commission] budget—it would be in the billions. … The effect of what this drug is doing to the people that are involved in it, contrary to what you hear, it’s devastating lives.”

The bill also includes new criminal and administrative penalties, including:

• a third-degree felony to manufacture or sell hemp products with cannabinoids other than CBD or CBG;
• amisdemeanor to possess hemp products with cannabinoids other than CBD or CBG;
• a misdemeanor to ship or mail a consumable hemp product with any amount of any cannabinoid;
• a misdemeanor to market or sell consumable hemp products to minors or near schools; and
• a misdemeanor to distribute or sell smokable products like THCA flower.

Standing behind the bill as lieutenant governor, Patrick held a press conference on Wednesday while surrounded by law enforcement officials.

“Let me make it clear: There are lots of issues that we discuss between the Senate and the House, and sometimes you’re going to have policy differences, and you work those differences out,” Patrick said. “This is not one of those bills. This is a bill that we have to ban THC and shut all of these stores down. And, secondly, that includes THC that’s being sold in liquor stores—in drinks. There’s no exception to this. This is a poison in our public, and we as the Legislature, our number one responsibility is life and death issues.”

Patrick’s press conference came one day after he visited an Austin-based hemp product retailer, where he was properly asked for his ID and learned that the store did not carry noncompliant products when he inquired about buying gummies with more than 50 milligrams of THC.

RELATED: Texas Lieutenant Governor ‘Carded’ at Compliant Austin-Based Hemp Retailer

The Texas Cannabis Policy Center (TCPC), a pro-cannabis reform advocacy organization that supports “reasonable” changes to state law related to youth access and consumer safety, condemned the lieutenant governor’s press conference for using “fear and misinformation” to promote S.B. 3.

“The event, filled with alarmist rhetoric and unfounded claims, ignored real solutions that would effectively regulate cannabis and ensure consumer safety,” TCPC stated in a press release. “It is Texas’ commitment to prohibition that has created this market for converted cannabinoids in the first place. If lawmakers are serious about protecting consumers, the logical step is to legalize and properly regulate botanical cannabis with naturally occurring THC, rather than enacting broad bans that drive demand for illicit alternatives.”

TCPC accused state officials of using terms like “death” and claims that hemp-derived cannabinoid products are “killing” people without providing “any evidence to support their assertions.”

During his floor Senate speech, Perry claimed that the roughly 8,000 hemp product retailers in Texas are targeting school-age children despite Patrick’s visit to an Austin-based hemp shop the previous day suggesting otherwise. Perry also claimed that the state’s hemp retailers are selling products that create psychosis and paranoia and cause high-performing individuals to become non-articulate or nonverbal.

“These people are not good people. They’re evil. They don’t care. It’s all about the bottom line,” Perry said of Texas’ hemp businesses. “We do a lot of things in this Legislature that have positive impacts on people’s lives. Not often do we get to have things that will literally save lives. That’s what this bill’s about.”