A police chief compared the shops across Texas that sell hemp-derived products to “candy stores or fireworks stands,” targeting children with bright-colored gummies and chips. At the same House Committee on State Affairs hearing on Monday, a Kentucky-based hemp seller said many of their Texas customers are women over 55 living in the suburbs.
Meanwhile, the committee members there to discuss House Bill 28, which would restrict nearly all consumable hemp products in Texas, seemed unsure of the realities of the state’s hemp industry as they stumbled through questioning about testing procedures, the difference between synthetic and natural hemp, and the properties of hemp-based products.
“We’re trying to straddle a recreational use versus a medicinal use,” said Representative Dade Phelan, the recently departed Republican House speaker. “Drawing the lines will be difficult, because we’ve been doing this for almost three hours, and I’m still not sure what we’re talking about.”
