July 2021

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IS DELTA-8 A DUD?

SANA V’RITZVAH

In March of 21 Clinton South Carolina Police raided a vape shop and seized all Delta-8 products. “They’re taking my stuff ” complained owner Robert Oggenfuss.

The Chief of Police cited a South Carolina Law on THC. “This is nerve-racking, I can get no sleep” Jay Barrios owner of vape shop No Cap Hemp in Fort Lauderdale Florida refering to the legalty of Delta-8 being argued by industry lawyers and hemp trade groups are often against it. Josh Wannig of Snap Dragon Hemp, a grower and processor makes 20% of his sales per month, to the tune of $60,000 for Delta 8.

But does it get you high?

Journalist Dante Jordan liked the effects of a 50 mg dose; as usual described as a “light” high. He was frustrated that a second 100mg dose did not increase the intensity.

It seems Delta-8 has psychoactive properties for some customers. Some complaints are that it is expensive and you have to increase dosage to get any real high. With the retail embracing it but some of the industry really wary we shall see whther Delta-8 is a dud or not.

REFERENCES:

Being so very close to the famous Delta-9 THC one would think that the hullabaloo that accompanied the roll-out of Delta-8 products as a “legal high” was justified. As per the stipulations of the DEA’s “Rule” (basically the illegality of any hemp containing more than .3% THCs) are the loophole that allows Delta-8 to be marketed. Actually research into anticancer effects of Delta-8 trace back to 1975.

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eing extracted naturally rather than synthetically also shields Delta-8 into a grey area of legality, as its synthetic cousins Spice and K2 fared badly on the

lawful end.

FOCUS (The Foundation of Cannabis Uni-

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fied Standards) points out that Federally Delta-8 is NOT legal. Plant derivatives that cause any form of psychoactivity are Schedule 1. Although no one is monitoring the production processes of Delta-8 products, nor do they require labelling, the Feds seem to be leaving it all up to States Rights.

Delta-8: Everything You Need to Know Mathew Mongelia, 10/20/20 Potguide.com/blog/article/delta-8-thc Delta-8 Offers You a Legal High, But Why The Booming Business Might Go Up In Smoke Editor’s Pick Forbes.com/sites/willyakowics/2021/02/2/ delta-8-of fers-you-a-legal-high-but-hereswhy-the-booming-business-might-go-up-insmoke/?sh=197a7cfd5b3d Did The DEA’s Rule Confirm Hemp Derived Delta-8 THC is Illegal?

Andrea Steel and Lisa Pittman, 8/25/20 CoatsandRose.com/2020/08/25/did-the-deas-newrule-confirm-hemp-derived-delta-8-thc-is-illegal The Delta-8 Controversy Bill Weinberg, 4/19/21 Projectcbd.org/politics/delta-8-the-controversy Treid Delta-8 Here’s What It Felt Like Dante Jordan, 4/21/21 Leafy.com/news/products/tried-delta-8-hereswhat-it-felt-like

Attention!

Earlybird Gummies Contain Natural THC From Hemp Earlybird is a Delta 9 product See page 27 for more details

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TERPENES: THE NEW FRONTIER

SANA V’RITZVAH

Cannabis has over 500 known phytocompounds.

Terpenes are a new frontier in the realm of cannabis possibilities. “limonene, as well as other terpenes, often bond with receptors in the endocannabinoid system and nueroendocrine system.”

T

erpenes are most known from the area of aromatherapy, the concentration of essential oils from plants and flowers. We have evolved over millions of years with the plant kingdom creating a complex and intimate interaction. Terpenes have

the capacity to almost immediately bring the body into balance.

“Terpenes bond to endocannbinoid receptors” Terpenes have been shown to regulate how much THC passes the blood-brain barrier as well as to affect dopamine ans serotonin levels.

Intensive scientific study reveals that biosignalling in the body are chain reactions utlizing certain chemicals. Both cannabinergic and thermogenic processes transfer nutrients where they need to be. Phytocannabinoids in marijuana are being isolated by pharmaceutical companies for their unique medical benefits. Capsaicinoids (cayenne pepper), gingerol (ginger) activate relays in the body that bring inflammation down, reduce cardio-vascular tension, etc.

Complex intercellular communication, geneteic mutations, and outside influences all come together in new science.

We are finding out more mysteries of the hemp plant.

REFERENCES: Keeping Your Body Systems in Check with Terpenes Jesse Waddell Monq.com/eo/terpenes/body-systems-checkterpenes Terpenes and Lipids of the Endocannabinoid and Transient-Receptor-Potential-Biosignalling-System David. R. Janero, Alexandros Makriyannis 11/19/14 Ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/article/pmc4948289 The Endocannabinoid System, Our Universal Regulator Chad A. Sallaberry, Laurie Astern 6/1/18 Jyi. Understanding Cannabinoids and Terpenes, Nate. B

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HEMP PAPER PART 1

KEN GIBSON, NYC MAY 2021

The majority of the hemp plants are in the stems. Thus a farmer has interest in making the most of this part.

T

hose growing for medicinal use and CBD oils can turn a profit from the leaves and buds, while hemp oil and hemp seeds per se are proving to be a lucrative market.

For some, what remains is simply left as compost. Which returns back to the soil little more than carbohydrates. Little nitrogen or other elements of use are given back.

The many tons of biomass, in the form of carbohydrates, especially cellulose, are of commercial value.

From charcoal to fine textiles, simple compounds with only carbon, hydrogen and oxygen are raw materials in demand. Cellulose is the most abundant molecule in agriculture, and the most common molecule in products used by man. Paper, lumber, most of our clothing, cardboard, cordage, insulation. We live in and use cellulose. We eat it.

We pay for it. Usually, not much, but in the case of fine threads, some pay thousands for a get up.

Hemp has had its place in the best of textiles, back when the Piedmont region of Italy produced hemp threads as fine as silk.But today most hemp threads are a bit coarse, and the market is dominated

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by PR China, which both grows hemp and spins it.

For the Western farmer there is hope on the horizon that his crop will end up on the catwalk, but more research and development is needed.

However, paper mills are looking for hemp.

In 2000 I hooked up with British environmentalist John Hanson, who had his own paper, with a large hemp leaf watermark. I ordered three tons. He had French grown hemp pulped in Spain and then sent to Scotland for the final operation. I waited with bated breath for the lorry (Brit for truck) to round the bend into my storage locker in Hammersmith with my stash.

For the three tons of paper I traded an ounce of paper, bearing, of course, the image of Her Majesty and its own watermark; which was not a hemp leaf.

However, the paper I traded for the pallets of John Hanson TreeFree (copyright) did use hemp. Many a government, including that of the United States, uses hemp in its currency.

The reason is that hemp is a more interlocking fibre than even flax. Wood does not really even have a fibre. Thus hemp

provides a strong basis for other fibres to connect with and form a sheet of matted fibres.

For 2,000 years man has been using this.

Americans use on average 200 lbs. per person.

And most of this, almost all - is made in Southeast Asia. From wood.

American paper used to be made from hemp, flax, and recycled rags. America used to lead the world in the production of paper.

Now there are few mills here, most with a production of under 10,000 tons per year. Some of those are specialty mills.

Very few use hemp.

Some use farm waste, a practice championed by Woody Harrelson, who encouraged the use of wheat stems in paper making. His move was good both ecologically and economically.

And it was good for farmers, adding value to their harvest of food crops.

With his action, he was sowing a seed for the revival of the US paper industry.

A paper industry in the US not only provides jobs, but is good for the ecology if farm wastes along with hemp bast are used. Add to that the value of recycling our rags and the argument is made.

Hemp - and other plants, can be dual crops as we revive the paper industry in the US. Tune in next issue for a more specific discussion of this subject.

scan to learn more

INTERVIEW WITH STEVE DEANGELO

Texas Hemp Reporter: It is quite an honor to speak with you Steve. Most interviewers would ask this kind of a question toward the close, I’ll flip the coin. What is the future of cannabis?

Steve: The future of hemp is to become the most profitable cash crop on Earth. Dollar per dollar volume cannabis will begin to outsell actually any other single product.

Here’s some statistics, since legalization in California alcohol use is down by 25%.. in most areas where legalization has occured alcohol use reduction is between 15 and 20%.

And I should mention Pabst Blue Ribbon has come out with a non-alcohol hemp tonic.

So many products can be replaced with hemp-based ones that are equal in price or cheaper to construct. If you press hemp seeds you get a wonderful emerald thick liquid that is biofuel for diesel engines. If you mix hemp seed oil with 10% ethanol, also derivable from hemp, you have a perfect biofuel for any diesel engine. Grind hemp seeds up you get hempmilk, a delicious beverage to put in your coffee or granola. Take a truck.

Some of the truck’s body could be made from

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plastic from hemp oil, the engine could run on hemp diesel, the boxes the truck carries could be hemp fiber, the socks and shoes of the driver could be hemp..

Hemp is the toughest fiber, much tougher than cotton. They found wills and bequests from the middle ages where people would bequeth their hemp linens to new generations because they don’t wear out. The Levi company has come out with jeans that are 30% hemp. That’s because they see that hemp is ecofriendly and sustainable. Using hemp paper and for furniture we could elimante the need to cut down trees. Hemp wood is 20% stronger than oak and 100 times faster to grow.

There’s something like 25,000 products that are hemp-derived.

Texas Hemp Reporter: You’ve co-founded or founded about ten businesses and organizations. Are you a counter-cultural hero?

Steve: I don’t think it is very heroic for someone to refer to themselves as a hero. I think that I am very lucky to have seen the light at a young age and to have the skills to

organize things. I love to found, I love to get a business going then as it grows and others can manage it I move onto to something new.

As far as the counter culture is concerned.. look the hippies gave us the personal computer right? The hippies gave us organic food to eat, the hippes gave us the electric car, introduced the west to yoga.

Texas Hemp Reporter: I personally believe there is a strong subculture surrounding the whole CBD thing, and medical marijuana.

Do you think we can tap into this culture to make the industry more compassionate? To “love the plant” as you say?

Steve: Yeah. I believe so. Look we better, we’re destroying this planet real fast, we as consumers have a mission and we better act on it. I didn’t start out to create a new industry but a new kind of industry. As with our Last Prisoner Project I approached the industry for support and they came through. In only a year and a half we have seen the release of thousands around the world, some due to Covid 19 petitions. Michael Thompson was released after serving 24 years of a minumum

40-years sentence. He was the longest serving non-violent prisoner of Michegan. All for selling 3 pounds of marijuana.

Also we hope to widen the investment in new licensees, as with Arcview. We are interested as much in how not to invest.. there is a large disproportion of new cannabis licenses in disadvantaged communities. We have to see black and brown people thriving in an industry they had a lot to do with founding. We need to find out how to support, create capital flow, sustain, educate and see those people grow.

Texas Hemp Reporter: I have been studying some of your writings. From your website, “A Lesson From Another Teacher” it is exciting because you’re talking about medical psychedelics.

Steve: Yes. I was travelling over four continents meeting with growing cannabis ventures when right in my hometown of Oakland California the city decriminalized natural visionary plants making psychoactive substances the lowest priority of the Oakland Police Department. I have always wanted to see visionary plants decriminalized as a Drug Reform activist. Also as a person who has incorporated psychedelics and cannabis into my own spirituality.

If you follow the history you know of cannabis, from the oldest known usages in central asia, if you go east you find that marijuana became central to Hindu culture in India, and Buddhism such that it is a medicine in the Ayurvedic canon. Excavations have found cannabis in temples, around statues, if you travel to Japan, the indigenous religion of Shinto, there will be a long hemp rope at the entrance to Shinto temples.

It has been shown in Israel use of cannabis as a grave offering, especially young women who had died in childbirth. And in Egypt it was burnt to clear temples. Really everywhere it is woven into the spiritual practices of peoples. It was central to ancient Greece, as were many other psychoactive plants. It wasn’t until Rome solidified their empire making Christianity the state religion which banned all psychoactive plant use. You see all those old Greek statues that are missing arms and such, that was hordes of Christians who would come in and search out anyone using any psychedelic plant, take them out of their homes and execute them. Even all those philosophers of the Academy which gave us western civilization they were using all sorts of psychoactive plants.

Interview conducted by Sana v’Ritzvah

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So many products can be replaced with hempbased ones that are equal in price or cheaper to construct. If you press hemp seeds you get a wonderful emerald thick liquid that is biofuel for diesel engines. If you mix hemp seed oil with 10% ethanol, also derivable from hemp, you have a perfect biofuel for any diesel engine. Grind hemp seeds up you get hempmilk, a delicious beverage to put in your coffee or granola.

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What wouldn’t you do for your best friend, your pal?

BY MISTY CONTRERAS

“My mutts get CBD oil daily.

Oil drops, mixed in their food.

Staley stays calmer and CJ gets it for arthritis and weight loss. It’s worked wonders for them. I get it from either Amazon or Phydeaux and Friends on Burnet Road (SHOUTOUT!!). They love it. They also get another supplement mixed in. I just read about it and preferred a natural solution over drugs.

“I

love the mutts like I love my family. CJ was adopted from my mom when they decided to move into an assisted living center. She was four years old when Mom adopted her. I couldn’t let her go to a strange family. Mom spoiled her and was giving her two slices of white bread every morning despite us kids telling her that was bad. CJ was a porker when I got her and I immediately put her on a diet and started taking her for walks. She had a hard time even getting up from her bed. The idea of her jumping on my bed was out of the question.

“Happy to say now she is bouncy, happy, trim and healthy at 11 years old!

“Staley was rescued from the Lockhart animal shelter. He was only 8 weeks old when I got him and a total spaz! Eight years later, he still acts like a puppy. The CBD helps calm him down, especially during thunderstorms.”

I think every pet owner can relate to this.

Thunderstorms and the 4th of July! They are

a reality that we all have to prepare for, and a living nightmare for our furry loved ones.

Anything that can help them to relax and not be terrified is welcomed.

CBD and its applications in veterinary medicine have seen positive results in the areas of seizures, pain reduction and anxiety, to name a few. As a result, new products are coming into the market frequently, making it a boon for pets and their pet parents.

This is the first in our series chronicling pet owners’ success stories. More to come.

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Hey Retailers, I’m speaking to you because I am one of you. As one of the first operators in Texas, I opened RESTART CBD in 2018 with my sisters as a way to help educate consumers and connect them to high quality cannabis products. CBD is extra personal to me since I was first introduced to it in 2016 after recovering from an auto-pedestrian The Podcast for Cannabis accident. My family became Marketers with host believers after it truly helped Shayda Torabi me get off opioids and steroid injections to self manage my pain. And so that was the impetus for founding RESTART. There had to be a better way and plant medicine was our way.

Since then, the market has exploded here in Texas, we’ve grown from selling CBD tinctures to smokable flower, edibles, and see new cannabinoids hitting the shelves like CBG, CBN, and Delta 8 THC more every day.

B

ut I want to level with you, in the last three years that I’ve seen retailers open, I’ve seen a lot of brands crumble and fall apart. Having a good idea and good intentions is great, but doesn’t get you very far if you can’t navigate how you’re going to bring your product to market- retail vs e-commerce vs wholesale and distribution. You’ve got to sort out payment merchant issues and depending on what products you sell may make that even more challenging to navigate. Once you figure out that you have to ensure who you’re sourcing from, whether it’s raw materials or you’re electing to white label,

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unfortunately while cannabis is considered a commodity, we all know that no two products are alike. And that variation comes down to the quality of the ingredients, how the cannabis was extracted, what is the integrity of the final product, and so many other variables. Do your research!

I’m kicking off this column sharing a little peek into what goes on behind my brain in the hopes that it can help motivate you to be the best steward of this plant for your consumers. Because that is who I believe we are in business for, yes to bring this plant into the light and to de-stigmatize, but ultimately it’s so the end consumer has the best experience with cannabis as possible.

Which we know is hard, we’re not medical professionals and even if you are, it’s a fine line to walk when it comes down to dosing and prescribing products for that consumer. Add on top of that how complex everyone’s bodies are and the bioavailability of different consumption methods and it really is a wide span approach because even I can acknowledge that cannabis and certain cannabinoids aren’t for everyone.

I suppose my hope is that with the lack of proper regulation, while we have the Department of State Health Services (DSHS) operating to regulate here in Texas, the enforcement is inconsistent. I know you see the many CBD shops and signs across the

state, it’s being sold in grocery stores, chiropractic offices, and yes even gas stations.

So how do we navigate? Well I believe we have to be self regulated as much as possible. It comes down to how you educate your consumers. Nothing I say is meant to be an explicit truth, but I do my hardest to do the research and pass that information down to my customers. If you are selling products with even trace amounts of THC, I hope you’re telling your customers the truth that they could fail a drug test. That’s just one area where I see a lot of sloppiness, and we really can do better. When consumers feel empowered, they become the champions, and I believe the industry will continue to grow.

Cannabinoids and the legality of the plant will forever be a moving target. We can’t get hung up on what we can’t do, but we can be in control of what we can do.

My hope is you’ll look at this plant as an opportunity to make an impact in the state of Texas, to truly bring quality products to market, and to bridge the gap of education for your community.

Another way you can do that is by getting involved. If you don’t understand something, ask for help. If you want to see better cannabis law and policy, get involved. And

if you want to know what you can and can’t do, learn the market for which you’re operating in.

By the way, the title of this column is pulled from my podcast for cannabis marketers called, To Be Blunt. I believe

in transparency, and I believe in education.

So look out for more blunt conversation in the magazine, and if you want to connect in between issues, find me online and I’d be more than happy to follow up this discussion with you @theshaydatorabi.

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FREEWAY RICKY ROSS AND KEVIN BOOTH Discuss The American Drug War

BY RUSSELL DOWDEN

Some days, you sit back and realize how all of your hard work has paid off. Some days, you may have the privilege of talking shop with a man whose work you’ve admired for over 20 years. I had the pleasure of interviewing these two men, and then the very next day, Mr. Tommy Chong. I can’t really put it into words what it means to me to be able to listen to these two shoot the breeze with each other, bringing together and broadcasting the conversation between two people whose relationship has spanned decades. And I must not discount my own connection to some of the players we will be mentioning during this piece. This is my interview with Mr. Ricky Ross and Mr. Kevin Booth. Enjoy.

magazine to be out that first weekend of the month of July, so right before the 4th of July weekend we should be able to get those out to everybody. Be sure to follow us on social media at texashempreporter on Instagram and txhempreporter on Twitter.

RD: Welcome back to the Texas Hemp Show.

I’m Russell Dowden with the Texas Hemp Reporter magazine. Visit us online at texashempreporter.com and txhemporter on Twitter.

I’m looking forward to getting this next issue out for you guys. Joining us today as we cut out of commercial break is Rick Ross. Good to have you part of the Texas Hemp Show, my friend. How are you doing out there on the West Coast, Rick Ross?

Ricky Ross: I’m well. How are you?

RD: You and I met, I don’t know if you recall, when you were doing the book tour for The Untold Biography. I missed you down there at Brave New Books and rushed down to 6th Street where you were doing a book signing and I bought Gary Webb’s book, as well as your book and you autographed both. I don’t know if you remember that.

RR: I do.

Russell Dowden: All right, welcome to the Texas Hemp Show. I’m Russell Dowden, publisher of the Texas Hemp Reporter magazine. This week on the program, we’re getting ready for the July issue where we’re featuring Tommy Chong, Kevin Booth, Steve DeAngelo and Ricky Ross. Ricky Ross will be calling in today from California, and then a little later, Kevin Booth will be talking with us. The two gentlemen actually know each other because Kevin, of course, did the documentary “American Drug War” back in ’06 and interviewed Ricky Ross several

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times when Rick was in prison. So, those two knew each other and may eventually cross paths again as we transition between interviews today. Good stuff today as we get ready for the July issue of the Texas Hemp Reporter magazine that will be available all around Austin and throughout the state of Texas. Many of these will be available for the first time in Houston, Texas. We’re adding many of the smoke shops from Houston to the eastern side of the state. Looks like the July issue will drop right here in the city of Austin on Thursday July 1st. We expect the

RD: You do? Yeah, you gave me your number and I’ve actually had your number in my phone for some time. I just finally reached out to you guys, I thought it would be good to have you on the program, as you’ve got some products you’ve been doing. I thought it’d be great to have you on and discuss that. It was about five years ago. Better late than never, huh, Rick?

RR: Absolutely. Absolutely.

RD: Well listen, man, thanks so much for being on the Texas Hemp Reporter with us.

How’s life treating you these days?

RR: I’ve been good. I’ve been good.

RD: I thought we’d just get you on, get a little bit about your background. We won’t go into a whole lot of your backstory. I think a lot people know that story now, Rick. It’s been well-documented and well-covered. I became aware of your case through Gary Webb’s work and then through our friend, Kevin Booth’s film, “American Drug War” in ’07. Can you just give us a real quick condensed version on your history with the drug operation and how you kind of got mixed up in that whole Iran-Contra affair with the players like Oliver North, Noriega and the CIA. Just give us a little condensed version and then we’ll talk about some of the things you’re involved in today.

RR: Well, I actually have three brands out right now: Freeway by Rick Ross, LA Kingpins and I also have one called Yayo. Kingpins is the oldest, I started that one about a year ago, right before the pandemic hit. The pandemic has really hindered me from really getting the brands in the space that I would like them to be in. With the Yayo, someone brought it to me and asked if I would partner with them on that and I go a kick out of it and I thought “we used to use that for cocaine!” So I thought it would be interesting, so I went for it.

RD: That’s very cool. I saw a documentary a while back called “I Want My Name Back” and it had to do with some east coast hiphop. It was a different kind of story. We know about the rapper, Rick Ross, who has taken your name and made a career off of your back. You’re getting some deals in your business now, and these are kind of the licensing deals that you’re doing on your own but you’re starting to develop your own kind of licensing things with Freeway Ricky Ross.

RR: Well, I started selling drugs at 19 years old after it was discovered that I wouldn’t be going to college because I couldn’t read or write. I started with $125. Before I finished with the dope game I was making as much $3 million a day. The prosecutor estimated that I had made at least a million dollars every day for two years.

RD: That’s impressive. That’s impressive.

You know, the CIA has long been rumored to sell drugs to finance their proxy wars, Rick.

They overthrow foreign regimes. Did you ever hear about Cele Castillo? He wrote a book called Powderburns. I’ve had Cele on.

RR: I know Cele.

RD: You know Cele? I thought that that might ring a bell for you. Can you speak to the drug war, Rick? How it gets the American people and the prison system that incarcerates thousands of non-violent offenders? Does this broken system upset you anymore? Or have you kind of overcome any animosity you’ve had toward that? How do you feel about the system itself these days?

RR: First of all, animosity is for weak people. It’s not for the strong, because when you’re strong, you change whatever it is that you know isn’t right. And so, I’m working to change whatever it is that I believe to be the proper formation. So, when you say, do I have animosity? No, I don’t. But, I don’t like the ways this war on drugs is being handled.

I don’t like the way the police have been handled in some cases. And I’m working to change all of those things.

RD: You’re story’s really interesting to me, Rick. And I remember when Kevin would

call you in prison for his films. You know, listeners, Rick taught himself to read in prison and worked on his appeal case. Did you ever imagine one day that you’d be speaking to the youth or doing special events or being such a positive influence on today’s youth?

RR: No, I didn’t. I never thought I was capable of speaking to crowds. I was more of a behindthe-scenes type of guy. You know, when I sold my drugs, I would stand behind everyone else and let them do my dirty work. So, I was more behind-the-scenes, but now, I need to be on the front lines because whenever you start something, nobody wants to participate until it starts to go. Right now, it’s not going the way that it needs to be before other people will get involved. So, right now I’m on the front line.

I’m pretty much doing everything right now. I do all the grunt work as well the behind-thescenes work.

RD: You’re Los Angeles’s most notorious former-kingpin launching his own brand of cannabis. I see you’ve opened up a dispensary.

You’re taking control of your legacy. Tell us about some of these business ventures that you’re involved in now. When did you start selling cannabis legally?

RR: Absolutely. Absolutely. Not only am I doing my brands, but I’m also helping other people get their brand started. I’m helping Cody Shane, his brand will be coming out soon, as well as Duke Deuce, also Dee Brooks. So, I’m helping other people also get their brands started. I’m also building a grow facility that’s going to produce about $6 million worth of cannabis every 2 months. I don’t know yet what it will be called, maybe “Freeway Farms”. Most important is that it develops great cannabis.

RD: Didn’t you do some work with the National Diversity and Inclusion Cannabis Alliance?

RR: Absolutely. I’m still on the board. I support them 110%. They had a big hand in me actually getting my license for my dispensary. They taught me the political game of marijuana. We all went downtown to City Hall, we marched. We went from councilperson to councilperson and we told them exactly what we wanted the law to say, even though we had to compromise. But for the most part, we got our way and we got things into the law that we needed in order to help me and others get a license.

RD: How can folks learn about these brands?

We have restrictions in the state of Texas on what we can purchase online but still, we have listeners on the Internet. How can people get Freeway by Rick Ross, Kingpins and Yayo?

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You know Texas is the lone star state, so you guys will probably be the last ones to make marijuana legal.

RD: Sadly, that’s probably true. Mexico is now legal with marijuana. Louisiana has a medicinal program. Oklahoma has medicinal and recreational. Arkansas has a medicinal marijuana program. New Mexico, to our west, has a recreational marijuana program. In fact, when you leave El Paso, you can go straight to the Pacific Ocean and it’s all legal cannabus.

So, Texas needs to get with the program, not just recreational, we don’t have good medicinal for our veterans or our cancer patients. Texas is just behind.

RR: The easiest way to get them is, when you come to California, you can go on my website and you can find the stores that sell my stuff.

RD: Texas is still struggling to get these marijuana laws relaxed and it’s kind of been the hot button the last few weeks and there’s talk of the Feds rescheduling marijuana. Do you think the federal government might make the move to make marijuana legal before long?

RR: I think they will. I don’t think it will happen this year. I voted for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris because I felt that they were leaning for legalizing marijuana and opening up the banking system. It will be so much better when they open up the banking system. Right now, you make this money and you have to keep in a shoebox in your closet. It would be nice if we could do some banking and accept credit cards.

RD: We are having problems with our business with the state of Texas and Texas Hemp Reporter and we have to choose wisely with what our merchant services are, and this is just hemp! It’s not even in the marijuana space yet and it’s already controversial.

RR: Well, I’m from Texas, I was born there.

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RR: That’s what happens when your politicians are out of touch. They don’t know what’s going on and what the people want, and they don’t care what the people want. They’re out there to serve a purpose, and that’s what they do. And that’s what our politicians here were doing and that’s why we went to their office and we let them know that if you don’t get your stuff right, we’re going to get your ass out of there.

RD: The producers didn’t really want to tell your movie story, sounds like, in Hollywood?

RR: They wouldn’t give me a definite release date and they didn’t want me to be part of it. If I sold my rights, if they tried to do the movie with someone else, they would’ve been sued. So, I couldn’t take those deals.

RD: How accurate are the stories being told in films like “Kill the Messenger” or “Snowfall”?

RR: Snowfall is a cartoon. Who would do a movie about a black drug dealer who was involved with the CIA in south central LA, and made billions of dollars? And you’re doing this movie, Freeway Ricky Ross is out of jail, walking the streets, you have his phone number in your phone, and you don’t call him? At least, if not after making his story, at least consult with him? It’s not an accurate story, they weren’t trying to look for the facts.

RS: Describe the irony about how you once sold drugs illegally, went to prison, and then all these years later, now you have a profitable, legitimate business now. Describe that. How does that feel for you these days?

RR: It just feels surreal, unreal. How could you be in prison with a life sentence without the possibility of parole, and now here you are, in an industry where you’re about to make billions of dollars, where you’re about to change the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in the world? It just seems crazy.

Only in America!

RD: Your story is really amazing and I’ve always found it inspiring. Being a fan of Kevin’s work, it was such an inspiring film, “American Drug War”. Tommy Chong is featured in the film as well. The question is, have we improved on our policies surrounding drug laws? We have a lot of work still yet to be done with regard to the prison system and the criminalization of drugs.

RR: I think we have get these old-ass, lying, cheating politicians out of office. Let’s get politicians who actually SMOKE marijuana, not these guys who say, “oh yeah, I smoked but I didn’t inhale.” Let’s just bring in a whole new fresh crop of people who grew up smoking marijuana, walking the streets. We have people in there now who never caught the buzz, they don’t fly commercial. Who are these people?

Where are they from? Until we get rid of them, our country’s going to be the way it is.

RD: Kevin Booth is chiming in, we were just singing your praises. Kevin, welcome to the Texas Hemp Show.

Kevin Booth: Hey! What’s up, Russell? Is that you, Ricky?

RR: What up, Kev? Kevin Booth: Hey, what’s going on? Are you in LA? RR: Yeah, I’m in LA. I’m at the tennis club with the baby. I told you, Russell, me and Kevin talk all the time! I’m not going to forget Kevin, he used to send me money when I was in jail!

RD: Well, we had Kevin scheduled for the podcast about a month or two ago and then one of my writers reached out to your team, Rick, and wanted to interview you for the magazine with your new products, and I then I ended up scheduling you on the same day as Kevin without realizing it.

RR: We have no problem getting together.

KB: We’ve got new things hopefully in the works too, so we’ve been talking a lot.

RD: Kevin, I don’t want to put you guys on the spot, but I will. What’s going on? Is there a film or something? I know you probably want to keep a tight lid on it but I have to ask.

KB: I’ll let Ricky take the lead on that, but I’m here in Texas and it’s tricky and it’s funny but everyone I know gets high and buys weed, and yet, it’s extremely illegal. So, it’s a lot trickier here. But once it becomes legal here it’s going to be a huge market. What pisses me off is this whole idea that if they legalize weed then more people are going to start smoking it. I’ve never met a single person when I was living in California that started smoking because it got legalized.

RR: No. What it does is, it takes the street element out of it. You don’t have to drive into some neighborhood where there’s 50 guys on the street, everybody’s toting guns and who knows what else they’re doing.

And you have to come buy marijuana. It takes that element out of the game which, I’m sure the cops like because it keeps up a bunch of mess and they can arrest a lot of people. So if you want to keep mess going then you keep it illegal.

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KB: Yes, and the other thing it changes too is, just from the people I’ve known, the only difference is that now, they have a bigger selection, they pay less money. The places they go to, it’s controlled. But, I’ve yet to meet the person who just started getting high because it became legal. I guess the argument is always about kids, right?

So, I’d rather have my kid smoking hemp, CBD or anything other than these nicotine cartridges, right?

RD: To answer your question, Kevin, the first time I smoked marijuana, I was 12 years old and I was stealing it from my parents. My parents were hippies, they met in LA and got married in Vegas in ’69. Dad was a musician.

Unlike your parents, Kevin, my parents were kind of stoner-hippies so I knew what marijuana smelled like. So, when I was living in south Austin with my Mexican friends, they started encouraging me to steal weed from my parents.

That was my introduction to marijuana.

RR: But the guys on the street, they don’t care how old you are when you come to them and buy. At least at the dispensary, they check everybody’s i.d., make sure they’re 21 or older. And you know that your product was grown organically, they didn’t use tons of pesticides on your product. Those are the things that you get when you start to bring things to the legal market. On the black market, nobody knows what they’re smoking.

KB: I don’t know how old you are, Russell but, when I was a kid, and I first started finding out about marijuana and I was going to Stratford High School in Houston, the thing was that crappy Mexican marijuana had paraquat on it. And now there are lawsuits about paraquat. It was a cure-all cheap bug spray that basically is the equivalent of agent orange, some Dow Chemical, DDT, horrible nightmare stuff. The thing is, when you get black market marijuana, you’re probably going to have something like that on there because I’m telling you, it costs a lot more to grow organically. It’s way harder and way more expensive and time consuming to grow organically. So, when you keep that stuff illegal, that’s what your kids are smoking.

KB: It wasn’t until I was older, in college, where suddenly this thing called “hydroponic” came up. So, suddenly, if you wanted to spend way more money, you could get this amazing-smelling stuff that made you feel really good in a totally different way. That was the breakthrough.

And my understanding was that was the first kind bud but, in Texas we just called it hydroponic back then.

RD: Well, Rick, any final thoughts? Would you like to plug your book?

RR: Thank you, Russell. And thank you, Kevin. You always come in with some encouraging words and some knowledge so thank you again, as always. And people, if you want to get my book, T-shirts, and all of my products, go to freewayrickyross. com. Also, you can follow me on Instagram at freewayricky, and Facebook at TheRealFreewayRickRoss. I also manage fighters now, you can watch my fights on freeway.live.

RD: Thank you, man. God bless you. We appreciate Freeway Ricky Ross being part of the

Texas Hemp Show this afternoon. This is so far out, Kevin, the timing. I’ve been anticipating that interview for six years.

KB: Rick mentioned his book, was that 21 Keys of Success or 21 Kilos of Success?

RD: Ha ha! That’s 21 Keys of Success. If you’re looking at his website, that title is actually a play on words. Standby, Kevin. We’re going to talk with you about your film work and some of the films you’ve been involved in, and talk about the old days, and see what you guys have cooking.

RD: Tomorrow, we’re having Tommy Chong on the show. He’ll be talking about some CBD products that he has released. He has defeated cancer multiple times. He used high-grade CBD to assist and manage with the pain and the side effects of the treatments. You interviewed Tommy for “American Drug War” while he was still in prison, isn’t that right, Kevin?

KB: Yeah, he was in Taft. It was quite a feat to get in, I remember. I had to go through some major hoops to get in there. I think they only allowed a total of three journalists ever to get in and see Tommy. When we finally got in there, it was a special day. I also actually got to interview his wife and his son. I got to know Shelby and Paris. And I kept in contact with Tommy over the years.

I actually saw him a couple of years ago and he’d been through the cancer thing and at the time he was doing some Rick Simpson stuff. I don’t know about his involvement with CBD but he’s definitely the poster child for CBD.

RD: Most of the time when I was interviewing him or Cheech, it was about the comedy. We got to interview them for the “Get it Legal” tour and before that, the “Light Up America” tour. He’s definitely a proponent for change with the drug war and certainly a victim of it, as your film “American Drug Wars” certainly documented with everything that went on with Operation Pipe Dreams. Can you give our listeners a little bit of your background? You grew up with Bill Hicks in Houston, can you tell us how you got started with films? I remember seeing your earlier film, “Ninja Bachelor Party” because it used to come on public access in Austin in the old days. It’s great to have you on, bro! Three of your films certainly have been related to the drug war, how did you get started in all of that?

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KB: Well, if we’re going to talk about “Ninja Bachelor Party”, I guess I’m going to have to drink a little Robitussin. I grew up in Los Angeles and then moved to Houston and met Bill when he was a freshman and I was sophomore at Stratford High School in Houston. We started a rock band called “Stress”. None of us knew how to play instruments but we knew we wanted to be rock stars, so we just started rockin’ out and before you knew it, we learned how to play instruments. We started doing high school talent shows and then keg parties, and then the relationship kind of blossomed from there. I produced a lot of Bill’s comedy records and I did his first standup comedy concert called “Sane Man” and I did “Rant in E Minor”, “Relentless” and “Arizona Bay”.

We had another band called “Marblehead Johnson”. At the time of “Ninja Bachelor Party” I was going to film school at UT Austin, my other band I was in had gotten a record contract with Chrysalis and so I guess I was not real serious about being a student but I was in film school after dropping out of engineering school. I decided to buy a color video camera, and we started making a karate epic. Our first goal, we really wanted to be able to make porno movies but we didn’t know any girls, so we decided to make it karate. It was the 80’s so, just bare with me. We spent years and years working on this 23-minute epic. It was funny because it ended up getting released

by Warner Brothers on DVD, this really crappy homemade thing. It was kind of like a Simpsons episode, every single line had to be funny, so it’s 23 minutes of non-stop humor. You get to see Bill doing a bunch of characters, actually, Bill does my parents’ voices, which is always hilarious for me to watch.

RD: (laughs) Kevin, is it on YouTube? Does the younger generation get the chance to see this, or is it still locked in a vault?

KB: I think everything I’ve ever done is on YouTube. I wasn’t aware that you could control it. I spent a couple of years trying to control people bootlegging stuff, it was an interesting experiment. When American Drug War came out, it was on Showtime.

This was back in 2008, we were selling tons of DVDs and I would get all freaked out when I would see how somebody put the entire movie on YouTube and I would demand they take it down. So I decided

to do an experiment and the experiment proved that we sold more DVDs when it was up for free on YouTube, so I started realizing, it’s a big world out there. Coming from the whole Patriot movement, back in those days when everybody had the spirit of, if they were made a film, just spread it around. So I tried not to be a control freak or thinking that people have to pay to watch my stuff. I’m not down with that.

RD: HA! Kevin, I got into publishing after 9/11. I don’t know if you knew this about me, but I was in that crowd with Alex Jones and SMiles Lewis and Jeff Contreras and all of those guys had different shows on ACTV public access here in Austin. You were involved with that as well, you had projects that you did. We were publishing “Austin ParaTimes”, the big sister to what would become “Weird Magazine”. Alex Jones would talk about my magazines on his show. This was the late 90s/early 2000s.

KB: Well, first of all, I was producer number like 137, or something like that, at ACTV. So, I was making access tv shows when you and Alex were just a glint in your momma’s eye. I was into public access back when the studio was on Red River, where it was one room in a garage apartment.

Then later, it was in a building on Barton Springs Road. So I started public access probably around ’83. I did a show called “Sacred Cow” back then, running around with Bill and Sam Kinison and we were just kind of making these crazy videos. Do you remember a guy named George Woolley?

Alex used to impersonate him. One day he was like, “uh, this here Internet’s gonna big one day.”

RD: I remember watching you guys and I looked up to you, Kevin, as a young, aspiring RTF student at 20 years old.

KB: That was a huge mistake.

RD: I remember in ’93 you and Bill went to Waco, and Bill did this runoff of the Branch Davidian Compound, going on and on with all the different offshoots of Davidians. What was that project? Did y’all just go up there to film?

KB: Well, this is before anything horrible or tragic happened. This was right after the shootouts but before the fire. We made a video called “On the Seventh Day” because we were there on the seventh day of the siege.

Bill and I were working on some records and videos together and we were both news junkies. I think starting with the Iraq War and Desert Storm, we both became CNN junkies and one night, Bill called me and said, “are you watching?” and I was like “yes.

I can’t believe it” and some frustrated rock guitar guy holed up 2 hours north of Austin, Bill was like, “in or out?” We decided, “we are going to this thing.” So he flew to Austin and we rented a car and we brought a little Hi8 camcorder and some other things. I had my ACTV badge. So, we drove through all these DPS checkpoints to get to the compound and we came upon this DPS checkpoint and this guy was like, “are y’all with the media?” and Bill goes, “no.” and the guy made us turn around and we sat there for like half an hour and I thought, “well, I’m on access tv, I’m in the media.” so then we turned around and we go, “we are with the media!” and the DPS guys were like, “what do you mean, you’re with the media? You guys were just here a half hour ago and you said you weren’t,” and I was like, “I am with the media.” and I showed him this like $50 camcorder. So they ended up letting us in. I showed them my little access badge, and so we got in with the press pool. The compound was maybe like a mile or so behind us, you could see the signs, they were hanging signs out the windows at the time. It was just this endless row of satellite trucks. We just set up there and Bill started just riffing. This was before it even turned tragic. Once the fire started, everything changed. I think that was the big turning point with Bill’s career too because this video started circulating around access tv, where it showed the flame thrower coming out of the tip of the tank. Once Bill saw that, I think that was a real defining moment in his career, where he went all-in and said, “f**k the government.”

RD: Yeah, he really did change then, it was interesting. Let me ask you something, Kevin, I would be interviewed on Jack Blood back in the day and people would ask me, “is there something in the water in Austin?” The perception was that we were all conspiracy theorists.

Years later, I ended up publishing InfoWars magazine for Alex. Why were we all gravitating that way at that time around the late 80s/early 90s, in your opinion?

the only conspiracy we had. And then it just broke loose, now it’s not even fun anymore.

I don’t know what it was about Austin in those days. I like to think that Austin access tv had a lot to do with it because that was a real headquarters of free thinking and i think someday somebody could make a great movie about it.

KB: Old Bitty. That was also the days of Dave Prewitt and Raw Time and Dave TV.

KB: Good question. It all started with that damn Kennedy assassination, and it spun out from there. When I was a kid, that was

RD: Who was the guy who would dress up like an old lady and talk like an old lady and take calls from viewers?

KB: Yes, I did a standup concert for Joe in 2000 called “Belly of the Beast”. There was a little interlude where Alex Jones and Joe

RD: Yes, I’ve had Dave Prewitt on. I know Nathan Olivarez also. I’m so glad you’re back in Texas, I know you were in California a while.

What’s going on with you? Joe Rogan moved to Austin, I know you know him from way back.

were dancing around wearing George Bush masks and we had a UFO in there.

RD: Was that the one where Joe gets Chris Athenas in a headlock?

KB: No, that was actually when we were shooting American Drug War in Los Angeles and Chris was on my crew when we shot the Bloods and T Rodgers and Lucky Rodgers over in the jungle and that night we ended up the Comedy Store, we were staying at the Hyatt, right next door. I was hanging out at the Comedy Store and that’s when Chris Athenas was kind of screwing around with Joe and you could tell Joe was not thinking it was that funny anymore and Joe was like, “Kevin, this guy in your film crew is kind of insane.” and Chris was pushing his buttons and then Joe put him in a headlock and I was filming the whole thing. And to this day, it’s one of the most popular things I’ve filmed on YouTube. It’s got like millions and millions of hits!

RD: Chris had a show on access called “Reality Expander”. Our guest, Kevin Booth, going down memory lane here, drinking the acid water from south Austin with Kevin Booth here. What’s your experience with hemp?

KB: Well, I just got my license and my permits. My dad bought a ranch down in Fredericksburg. It’s like a gem out here.

It’s a beautiful place, thank God. I was pretty fortunate to be able to escape LA and come back here after 14 years of living in Hollywood. To come out here and live on a ranch has been pretty nice. I feel like I just dodged a bullet with the way things are going out there. So, I got my hemp license, and I’m just experimenting. I’ve secured the names Texas Hill Country CBD, Texas Hill Country 420 and Texas Hill Country Hemp.

And what does Texas Hill Country stand for? What are those initials?

RD: THC!!

KB: You got it, man! It’s gonna happen, man. We’re in an experimental phase, we don’t have any products yet, we’re just getting started.

RD: How long have you been back?

KB: Since the end of 2018.

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RD: That’s fantastic, Kevin. Whatever Kevin’s got cooking, for folks who don’t know. American Drug War was on the cover of Weird Magazine in 2008, and then we had How Weed Won the West, another documentary film you did that was also on the cover of Weird Magazine in 2010. And then, when I left InfoWars, I started publishing Paranoid, Kevin, for a little while there and American Drug War 2: Cannabis Destiny was actually on the cover of that one so, if you ever do another film, it’s almost guaranteed that you’ll be on the cover of my current magazine!

KB: Well, that whole chapter of my life, that’s sort of outside of the drug war, I shot a movie about Bulgaria, and Russian corruption and all that. I spent several years over in eastern Europe, I was kind of hiding at a ranch with all these Russian oligarchs pissed off at me. I needed to get out of LA for multiple reasons. (laughs). There’s a movie on Amazon called “Shadows of Sophia” which is not a drug war film. Every once in a while you have to step out of your comfort zone, but I don’t think I’ll be making any more foreign films. It was a really hard and weird experience. But it was a great experience.

RD: Well, Kevin, I have an idea for a film.

It’s called “Memoirs of a Paranoid Publisher”. It’s about a magazine publisher that starts publishing paranormal conspiracy articles in his youth and later starts publishing rock n roll and sports and then hemp! Oh wait- that’s my life!

KB: It’s funny that you quit working for Alex Jones and then you started something called Paranoid.

RD: Well, I kind of did that on purpose.

Alex was worried that I was going to start a competing publication. I was like, “a fisherman fishes. A publisher publishes.”

It’s what I know how to do. Fire off your website, Kevin, and tell folks how they can get in touch with you and your work. I don’t know if you still have the Sacred Cow website, that’s how I remember you.

KB: Yes, I still have it but it’s under construction. Just google me, google my name or Sacred Cow Productions or find me on Facebook. I can’t figure it out anymore, I can’t keep up with that dang Internet.

RD: Kevin Booth, thanks, man. It’s so good having you on the show, that was really cool to have that little transition there with Ricky.

Listen, if Rick comes into town, y’all holler at me sometime. Stay in touch, my friend. You know where to find me on Facebook, as well.

And thanks again, Kevin, for being part of the Texas Hemp Show.

KB: I love Rick and thanks for having me on and I hope to be back!

RD: Kevin’s mainly known for a lot of films- American Drug War was very popular. Look for a version of this interview in print in the Texas Hemp Reporter the first of July. You guys enjoy your summer and thanks for tuning in..

TEXAS CANNABIS COLLECTIVE PRESENTS

MONTHLY MEETING

INDUSTRY NETWORKING EVENT

What’s Messing DC Up? SANA V’RITZVAH

Among arrests for marijuana –related offences in Washington DC was Adam Eidinger during a protest at the Capitol for Advocac. His crime? He smoked a joint.

926 were arrested in the district in 2017 compared to 323 in 2015 as cannabis was being decriminalized.

Initiative 71 makes life haphazardous for the medical marijuana user; District residents are allowed to grow and use pot on prvate property, yet exchanges of weed must be in the form of a gift, or promotion.. no money goods or services must attend the transaction. Most connections are at “pop up” locations at bars restaurants events etc.

Where the user has to seek the provider out directly on social media to find out details like location. Even though there are about 300 medical offices they are small to mid-size companies- the big ones just aren’t there yet.

Officials also have been cracking down n the pop ups and one restaurant’s license was revoked. And Cngress will not lawfully allow DC to regulate her own medical marPage 48 • www.TexasHempReporter.com

ijuana industry. “Thanks to congressional interference, prohibiting the district from regulating marijuana, rather than collecting tax revenue and ensuring product safety, we

are wasting resources and wreaking havoc on young people’s lives with continual arrests for use.” Policy Manager Kathy Boecker of the Drug Policy Alliance.

“All these arrests do is make people hate us,” Metroploitan Police Chief Cathy Lanier speaking to the American News Women’s Club. It doesn’t help tht out of every ten people arrested for pot-related crimes, 9 out of ten are African-American.

REFERENCES: Washington DC’s Budding Market for Legal Pot is Rife in Potential Pitfalls-Here Is What You Need To Know Miguel Pineda, 9/15/18 Cnbc.com/2018/09/15/heres-what-you-need-toknow-about-dc-marijuana.html Washington DC Police Chief on Marijuana: All These Arrests Do Is Make People Hate Us German Lopez, 3/3/15 Vox.com/2015/3/3/814337/cathy-lanier-marijuana

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STRONG LIKE BULL

a lot of things. How can folks get on the internet and look into getting those products?

That’s a hell of a good question. I’ve been meaning to find that out myself one day. Get some young kid to use the internet to find Tommy Chong.

It’s tommychong.com Yep, that’s where you get it. You know what, we’ve been really having a good time with these breath strips. And what they are, they’re loaded with 10mg of THC. And so you can take these anytime anywhere and get the equivalent of a nice fat doobie. I’ve given them out at hockey games, at New Year’s Eve parties to people that had never smoked before that said, “Oh I wanna try one of those!” And it was fun watching the results. So if you wanna have a really good time!

What are those, just like the breath strips?

We call them infused strips, like the breath strips.

How has the CBD just helped you in your life? People are trying CBD for things like you mentioned to us, like sleep. What are some of the benefits you have found?

Well it’s healing more than anything. I’m still a bodybuilder, I still workout, I still use weights, I still exercise, and when you do that especially when you get older you need to heal, because you’re tearing tissue when you exercise. In fact as you get older you should do less of the tear.

It really helps me recover. When you get older sometimes the biggest exercise you’re gonna get is getting out of the lounge chair. It’s a joke, but it can be a problem because your body becomes almost like memory foam. It relaxes so much that by the time you go to get up it becomes an effort.

I imagine that’s why on your website we see the quote, “Why I fought for cannabis for 40 years, then it saved my life,” Yep, that’s exactly how it turned out to be the case. It started out really as a racism reminder there, how racist these drug laws are. I gotta ask you guys a question though. I want to build my house in Vancouver out of hemp products, is that possible?

Yep, we were just at an event in Austin called the Lucky Leaf Expo and there is another comPage 52 • www.TexasHempReporter.com

ing up in Dallas on the 9th and 10th of July.

They were doing Hempcrete demos, build it yourself. If you’re interested we know people in Colorado and Texas in that space I wanna design and build a totally hemp,off the grid, home in LA and Vancouver. I’ll start in Vancouver and we’ll film it and it’s gonna be a production, so hook me up.

We even had a company that came out that had hemp wood. All sorts of wood and even insulation. Almost anything you would build a house out of.

Yeah! You see it’s on the water, it’s on the bay in Vancouver, not on the beach but close enough. The house I wanna build is gonna be like Noah’s ark. That way if the flood ever came it would be able to float. Just float out of there and I wanna build it all out of hemp.

I think that’s a cool idea and a great idea to film Yep, that’s the whole idea. We’re all film makers now. Everything I do I’m gonna film

and make a production like this hemp, floating house in Vancouver.

People forget that you’re from Canada, it’s where you started out and that’s where you ran into Cheech. Are you still into music, you still play the guitar?

Oh yeah! I got a ton of guitars on my wall here. I’ve been writing poetry and I’m going to bring back an old art of poetry with little bongos and a little accompaniment in the back.

I have a feeling this would be a lot like Shel Silverstein, if you remember him.

Oh yeah! Could be a little bit. Not as much Shel because he was one of a kind, but in that area. And I am also doodling too, drawing stuff. I’m also enjoying my existence.

You know Kevin Booth who was on the show recently, he directed American Drug war, came out and filmed you. Any thoughts on the drug war since that film came out?

I wanna design and build a totally hemp,off the grid home in LA and Vancouver. I’ll start in Vancouver and we’ll film it and it’s gonna be a production, - Tommy Chong

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Yeah I talked to Kevin. You know, we have a migration problem coming up from S. America.

Thousands of migrants coming from those areas, that if they legalize marijuana that would be the industry. There would be income for everybody.

And of course you gotta have law and order down there, but it would stop the migration problem.

The people are migrating for food and safety. The marijuana is gonna grow, it’s the best growing area in the world. So let that industry flourish along with the hemp industry. Get hemp farms and get hemp cottages. Get hemp villages and hemp infrastructure. If you help people and wanna keep them where they are, make sure they can live safely and eat. That’s why people leave, there’s no food and there’s no work.

Speaking of hemp and it’s uses helping the third world, what kind of opportunities in hemp do you see coming up? What are your thoughts on the future of hemp in the United States?

When you consider that it was a hemp cloth called canvas that was on the sails of Columbus when he sailed over and found America, hemp has always been in America. All the uses, it’s that plant that I’ve always said will save the world.

It has so many uses, we can make so many beautiful materials from it.

Talking about the guitars on your wall earlier, I wanted to ask if you’ve ever hung out with Willie Nelson here in Texas or tried to do any sort of music venue with him?

I hung out with Willie many years ago when Hank Williams Jr had a video called All My Rowdy Friends are Coming over tonight. Cheech and I were part of that video. We hung with Willie, George Jones, and all the heavies. Waylon Jennings,Kris Kristofeerson, everybody was there. The thing about Willie is that he’s a comedian.

Great songwriter of course. Everytime we see Willie he tells us a joke. We even use his jokes on the Cheech and Chong show.

Speaking of media, I looked to see if you had done any films recently and I saw the last movie you had done was Jay and Silent Bob Reboot and you played Alfred.

Oh yes! It was a great experience. Because I’m getting into the area where you gotta have cue cards, but someone to do the line for ya. They put a bug in my ear and tell me the line and I’d repeat it. Shot a whole segment and it was great.

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The last time I interviewed you, I told you my father used to open up for you on Sunset when you and Cheech were starting out. He would play guitar between your set and Earth, Wind, And Fire. He said yall would kill the club with a song called Sgt. Sunshine. Tell us about that because dad swears this is about a real cop from San Francisco.

It was a real cop in San Francisco, he did LSD, and instead of arresting people he would help. I guess he got caught. He was one of those funny moments in the news. But I heard that and wrote a song called Sgt Sunshine. We used to do it in the club. We only did it at the Climax.

Never did it after that.

Do you talk to Cheech ever, do yall get together for any projects anymore?

We just spent a week in the desert riding in a movie rig shooting the end of a documentary film. More of a film than a documentary. About Cheech and Chong from our early beginning, from cradle to grave. We just shot the last little bit of connecting movie by riding in the desert and thinking about it. I’m really excited now.

I wasn’t that excited about doing it until I got there. There’s something about making movies that just transforms everything and everybody if you’re a movie maker.

Do we know what it is called? Is there a name for it yet?

I think the working title is Keep Smoking, I’m not sure. All the press will be out. Right now it’s being put together in the editing room,

connecting music. But yeah, that was the last time I saw Cheech.

What recommendations do you have for the advocates in Texas that are looking to change the law for cannabis?

You gotta really put the pressure on your congressman and senators all, talk show hosts, you gotta keep it in the news. Gotta keep talking about it, everything then will be better. Finding the pot friendly candidates and making sure they get in there. Also getting ahold of the donors somehow, the ones that are against it and out them. Let everyone know who these guys are. It’s the money behind everybody. And then you see the greed and people the way they are. That’s why when the pot shops start raking it, I’m gonna divert so much of that into helping the planet and helping the people. Put it in schools and teach people how to do trades.`

Well, I’ve got one last thing to ask you. Do you mind giving us a shout out with the Texas Hemp Show?

Hey, this is Tommy Chong and you’re listening to the Texas Hemp Show!

Alrighty, thank you to our guest Tommy Chong. Thank you so much (Applause from the hosts and Tommy) Thank you! Thank you! Please, please, throw money!

There he goes, that was Tommy Chong on the Texas Hemp Show.

DEAR 87TH LEGISLATIVE SESSION – WHAT HAPPENED Y’ALL?

ANDREA HOPE J. STEEL, ESQ.

In the midst of a pandemic, the 87th Texas Legislative Session kicked off in a state of confusion as to whether and how the Capitol would accommodate lawmakers and visitors during this biennial lawmaking ritual.

Masks/no masks, in-person or Zoom…things got off to a slow start in January and culminated in a latenight, last-minute walkout by Democrats to break quorum just as the final deadline to approve bills passed, preventing restrictive voting laws and other Republican priorities from moving forward. The 87th was dubbed “the most conservative legislative session in over 30 years.”

Now that Session has come to a close, there is a collective uttering of “what just happened?!?!” when it comes to cannabis-related bills. There was an exciting start based on the number of cannabis bills filed, followed by strong momentum on penalty-reduction, medical expansion and hemp bills, but a delta-8 plot twist, in-fighting, fierce lobbying and polarized politics made for a bittersweet end filled with mixed-emotions. This article dives into what passed, what failed, what happened and what’s next.

What Passed?

Parental Protection for Consumers: HB 567: One of the provisions in this bill, effective September 1, 2021, will prevent the Department of Family and Protective Services from taking a child from a parent who tests positive for cannabis unless the agency can prove the cannabis use significantly impairment the child’s development.

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Expansion of the Texas Compassionate Use Program: HB 1535: This bill will slightly expand Texas’s low-THC medical cannabis program. The new laws will add PTSD as a qualifying condition, as well as any stage of cancer to the other qualifying conditions (the current program requires cancer be terminal to qualify). The original bill would have also added chronic pain, increased the THC concentration to 5% (it

is currently capped at 0.5%), and granted the Department of State Health Services (DSHS) the ability to add conditions it deemed debilitating. After passing in the House but stalling in the Senate, the bill was finally heard once advocates launched a public pressure campaign. However, a Senate amendment brought the THC cap down to 1%, removed chronic pain as a qualifier, and took away DSHS’s leeway to add conditions. The watered-down version then passed in both the House and the Senate and is awaiting the Governor’s signature (at the time of this writing).

An interesting aspect of the Compassionate Use expansion bill is it allows for institutional review boards to be established by the Health & Human Services Commission (HHSC) to research medical use for any condition designated by the HHSC Executive Commissioner. These research programs must be affiliated with both a qualified research institution (i.e., medical school, hospital, etc.) and a licensed dispensing organization (currently there are 3 in Texas).

Nonetheless, Texas still has one of the most restrictive medical marijuana programs in the country, despite being entirely surrounded by states with robust medical options plus New Mexico’s recent adult-use legalization.

Hemp 30-day Harvest: SB 703: Without this bill, the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) would have been abolished come September, but this “sunset” legislation passed, allowing TDA to continue at least until 2033, and is now awaiting the Governor’s signature (at the time of this writing).

The bill also includes language which extends the time between official hemp crop sample testing and required harvest from 20 days to 30, bringing it in line with the Final USDA Hemp Rule that went into effect in March. The previous 20-day law was superseded by an interim federal rule that only allowed 15 days. Nationwide industry pushback convinced the USDA to allow 30 days in its final rule, and now our state law grants Texas producers that same window – a major victory for Texas hemp growers.

into effect in March. The previous 20-day law was superseded by an interim federal rule that only allowed 15 days. Nationwide industry pushback convinced the USDA to allow 30 days in its final rule, and now our state law grants Texas producers that same window – a major victory for Texas hemp growers.

What Failed?

Everything related to cannabis except those mentioned above – penalty reductions, decriminalization, robust medical marijuana program, adult-use…if it had “marihuana,” “marijuana,” or “hemp” in it, it failed. Two bills in particular made it almost to the finish line, but were unable to make it across in time.

THC Concentrates Penalty Reduction: HB 2593 would have significantly reduced penalties for possessing THC concentrates, making it a misdemeanor to have up to 2 oz (current law for THC concentrates possession in any amount is a felony). An amendment to this bill was added by Sen. Perry, which would have effectively banned Delta-8 and other novel THCs. Currently, the definition of the term “Controlled Substance” under the Texas Controlled Substances Act expressly excludes hemp and THCs in hemp, with hemp being determined by the delta-9 THC concentration level. The proposed amendment would have altered the hemp carveout and criminalized consumable hemp with any THC concentration level in excess of 0.3% (not just delta-9). This amendment was struck from the bill on procedural grounds because it was deemed not relevant to the bill’s intended purpose. The “clean” bill was agreed to during Committee Conference by both House and Senate lawmakers, but Lt. Gov. Patrick refused to allow it to be heard before the final deadline, resulting in a tragic failure of what would have brought some fairness and logic to this inequity. As it stands, possession of any amount of THC concentrate, even one vape pen or a small edible, remains a felony.

The Hemp “fix” Bill: HB 3948, authored

by Rep. Tracy King, and SB 1778, an identical bill authored by Sen. Perry, proposed many enhancements to the current hemp program. Rep. King’s version advanced first and he substituted it with a thinner version that tried to keep aligned with federal requirements and stripped out unnecessary provisions. Rep. King’s substitute included

higher education research licenses, flexibility for seedling producers, and clarification for transporters, among other changes.

Sen. Perry, added back much of what Rep. King removed, putting in changes that would have eased requirements for transporting samples, provided penalties for growing hemp without a license, cleaned up language regarding independent contractors and distributors, and penalized sellers of products falsely claiming to be made in Texas. An additional amendment would have expressly deemed hemp an agricultural commodity and allowed it as commercial feed for animals. However, Sen. Perry’s version intended to ban Delta-8 and other novel THCs by prohibiting “synthetically derived” THCs and products deemed to have an “intoxicating effect,” both terms to be defined by DSHS. There was also poorly drafted language seemingly targeting products sprayed with Delta-8.

At one point the proposed language could have inadvertently outlawed CBD. Despite many attempts to come to an agreement on acceptable language, the authors were unable to reconcile differences before the deadline. Though this bill did not make it through, all is not lost for Texas hemp enhancements - the vast majority of proposals can be accomplished by TDA via rulemaking.

What Happened?

Delta 8. Delta 8 happened and failed attempts to ban it were major contributors to the deaths of the two bills mentioned.

Also at play was anti-cannabis leadership, which has historically been the case in Texas. Another ugly issue rearing its head was in-fighting among industry stakeholders.

Farmers and retailers were pitted against one other not only in documentation circulated to lawmakers but also via social media attacks.

For those unaware of what hemp-derived Delta-8 is and does, here is an incredibly summed up statement that does it no justice whatsoever, so please do more research for details: hemp-derived Delta-8 THC is one of hundreds of cannabinoids found in the hemp plant, but usually occurs naturally in levels too small to be viably commercialized and is therefore typically isomerized from hemp-derived CBD through a process whereby a catalyst is used to cause the conversion. When this process is carried out safely and effectively, the end result is

a more purified isolate or distillate often used as an ingredient in various consumable products. Products with Delta-8 THC may have a more potent, psychotropic effect on some people, though not thought to be as intoxicating as Delta-9 THC, which is the “THC” that most people think of as causing a “high” from cannabis. Delta-8 is currently in a legal grey area due to how the federal 2018 Farm Bill and most states define the term “hemp” which typically focuses on Delta-9 THC concentration levels.

The rise of Delta-8 across the country over the last two years caught regulators off guard, exponentially increased consumable hemp sales, and provided consumers access to a product there is a clear demand for.

While yet to be officially addressed by the federal government, state regulators are reacting in various ways, leaving a hodgepodge of laws that differ from state to state.

Delta-8 showed up to the cannabis industry like the rebel wearing red to the allblack party. It’s not “wrong” per se, you will still get in, but you aren’t “supposed” to do that…but then the question arises: why have these “rules” anyway? That is a conversation for another day.

When HB 3948/SB 1778 were filed midMarch, Delta-8 advocates rallied industry associations and fought back hard. The ban would have caused many businesses to lose a significant portion of their sales. This epic battle over Delta-8 in Texas was captivating, with a similar attempt failing in Alabama.

Surprisingly, Alabama also passed a comprehensive medical bill this year, despite its historic anti-marijuana record.

Texas residents and businesses sent a loud and clear message that they are tired of overly-restrictive cannabis laws and will fight for whatever access is possible, even for more effective hemp-derived cannabinoids, especially since the restrictive medical program leaves far too many patients suffering.

Also included in the controversy were licensed medical cannabis companies that do not want to lose business to a product that has similar benefits with less regulations. Several advocates sought more appropriate regulations for Delta-8, such as 21+ age restrictions, more rigorous testing, enhanced labeling requirements and child-proof packaging, but it appeared oppositionist lawmakers would accept nothing less than full prohibition – something clearly stated at the opening of the Senate Committee Hearing on HB 3948. Ad-

vocates fought on and were victorious, though the crusade took down two otherwise mostly decent bills in the process.

Of note, DSHS testified during a committee hearing that delta-8 is a marijuana extract illegal in Texas, confusing the issue even more since, as stated above, the Texas definition of “controlled substance” expressly excludes THCs in hemp (though Delta-8 derived from marijuana is clearly illegal).

What’s Next?

There will be special sessions called by the Governor to address elections, the bail system, redistricting and whatever else he chooses. While cannabis-related measures are not anticipated to be taken up, keep an eye out just in case.

From now until 2023, collaboration and unity are a necessary priority as this still very new industry continues to grow. Stakeholders across the entire supply chain will benefit more when there is value recognized in each piece of the puzzle – from seed to sale – and a united front can be displayed.

New/updated rules relating to Compassionate Use from HHSC and the Department of Public Safety are forthcoming before year-end, so be on the lookout for

additional details and possibly an opportunity to become a licensed dispensing organization, should that application process open up. It is great to see a health agency get some authority, at least over medical THC research, though general oversight remains with a law enforcement agency. Perhaps this slight expansion will increase the number of participating patients from the current ~6,000 to the estimated ~2,000,000 thought to be eligible.

I anticipate rule changes in the Hemp Program. Much of what would have been

addressed in HB 3948 can be done by rule.

Nothing prevents TDA from submitting an Amended Hemp Production Plan to the USDA, especially considering the legislative change to the harvest time frame. Opportunity is ripe for TDA to immediately initiate rulemaking to address changes adopted in the USDA’s Final Hemp Production Rule.

Continuing the Delta-8 battle, there might be proposed rule changes from DSHS that again attempt to impact novel THCs. If that happens, I anticipate legal challenges may arise (as did with the smokable hemp ban). Those willing to continue the fight should consider collaborating to raise necessary funds. There could also be attempts to prosecute criminally, which will garner significant attention as we have yet to see how a court will address hemp-derived Delta-8 and there are compelling arguments on both sides.

Finally, there are major elections coming up in 2022 which provide an opportunity to unseat leadership that has been notably hostile to cannabis for several years.

Changes are on the horizon at the federal level and a majority of Texas citizens want to see cannabis laws expand. Work together, keep pushing, and vote!

WHAT WINS DID CANNABIS IN TEXAS GET THIS SESSION?

BY JESSE WILLIAMS

Seeing that none of the legalization bills for marijuana, no penalty reductions bills for marijuana, and not even a hemp cleanup bill passed in the session, one may ask, “What did Texas even win?”

O

ne bill that did not pertain to cannabis but will have a possible major impact for families involving cannabis is HB 567 by Rep. James B. Frank (R) of Wichita Falls. The bill relates to the procedures and grounds for terminating the parent-child relationship, for taking possession of a child, and for certain hearings in a suit affecting the parent-child relationship involving the Department of Family and Protective Services.

Specific in this bill for cannabis involved language that would prevent parents from having their conservatorship (this is the term for custody in Texas) removed for a child consuming prescribed marijuana as part of the TCUP program SECTION 3. Section 161.001(c), Family Code, is amended to read as follows: (c)Evidence of one or more of the following does not constitute clear and convincing evidence sufficient for a court to make a finding under Subsection (b) and order termination of the parent-child relationship:(4)the parent provided or administered low-THC cannabis to a child for whom the low-THC cannabis was prescribed under Chapter 169, Occupations Code; SECTION 6. Section 262.116(a), Family Code, is amended to read as follows: (a)The Department of Family and Protective Services may not take possession of a child under this subchapter based on evidence that the

parent: (4) provided or administered lowTHC cannabis to a child for whom the lowTHC cannabis was prescribed under Chapter 169, Occupations Code; As well, parents that are part of the program would have some protections as well, because the language used throughout the bill designates that there must be evidence of an immediate danger to remove the child from the home. Texas case law has set a precedent for what constitutes immediate danger. It is highly recommended that one speak with a family law attorney for more information on the boundaries set forth with this new language.

HB 1535 was the other minor win that Texas saw regarding cannabis in Texas. HB 1535 authored by Rep. Stephanie Klick (R) regarded the expansion of the Texas Compassionate Use Program (TCUP).

Intinitally the bill would address chronic pain, remove the wording of terminal regarding cancer to make all cancer available for treatment under TCUP, address veterans with PTSD, allow DSHS to add conditions under review with evidence as the department saw fit, and set the percentage cap at 5% instead of 1%. The end result saw chronic pain removed, the term veterans struck from the language to support all patients with PTSD, the DSHS review process removed and the cap moved to 1% instead of 5% in the bill. Cancer language was the only thing in HB 1535 to go untouched.

The bill also put in place institutional review boards. The purpose of the boards are to evaluate and approve proposed research programs to study the medical use of low-THC cannabis in treating a medical condition designated by rule of the executive commissioner, and oversee patient treatment undertaken as part of an approved research program, including the certification of treating physicians.

The boards must be affiliated with a dispensing organization and meet one of the following conditions: (1) be affiliated with a medical school, (2)be affiliated with a hospital licensed under Chapter 241 that has at least 150 beds; (3)be accredited by the Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs; (4)be registered by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Human Research Protections, or (5) be accredited by a national accreditation organization acceptable to the Texas Medical Board.

These review boards will report yearly, and patients will be treated with medicinal cannabis under research, by a physician certified by the review board. No details have been released yet on what institutions will be associated with the review boards or what research will be done by the review boards.

When the law goes into effect the following conditions will be explicitly covered under TCUP: autism, cancer, PTSD, epilepsy, incurable neurodegenerative disorders, multiple sclerosis, spasticity, and ALS. The list of incurable neurodegenerative diseases includes, but is not limited to, diseases such as: Spinal Muscular Atrophy, Vascular Dementia, Huntington’s Disease, Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease, Kearn Sayers Syndrome, and Galactosemia At the writing of this article, Gov Abbott has signaled that he will sign the law.

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the issue. This session they presented five educational exhibits – 2 on medical cannabis, 1 on regulated market, 1 on penalty reduction, and 1 on medical cannabis with focus on veteran needs. Jax Finkel commented on the triumphs of the program, “We have had a lot of success with it. When we hold these courses, whether they be virtual which we’ve had to do over the last little bit, or they be in person, we always give opportunity for feedback because we want people to be able to anonymously give us honest feedback on what they like, don’t like, and what they wish we had covered . With this, we have been able to keep this dialogue with the community and continue to offer relevant and timely information to them.” This dialogue has positively transferred over into the Capitol as well.

Strength in bipartisan support for cannabis reform has gradually risen in our legislature with mitigation in lobbying efforts aiding in market regulation and avoidance of prohibitive decisions. This last session was unprecedented yet shaped up to form historical groundwork for the future. While previously lobbyists have been able to only get two bills out of the house and into the

senate – medical cannabis and hemp – this past session saw five bills open, one with a supermajority that would have taken 2oz of THC concentrate from a felony down to a class B misdemeanor, which, still arguably a crime, does not hold the weight of its prior convictions. Other bills that came over dealt with the penalty reduction for possession of flower, parental protections of children through the Child Protective Services Reform Bill, a hemp bill and a medical bill which doubled the amount they have been able to push through in previous sessions.

Multiple bills, however, have been killed through promoting hemp products in a marijuana statute, especially those continually made to ban delta 8. Jax stated that “regulating and making something illegal based on the chemical profile of a plant is not only not cost effective but not a smart or prudent way to do business. While delta 8 should definitely be regulated, and made safe for consumption , banning it is not going to work.” With a supermajority of both Texans and legislators supporting cannabis, the progress becomes stagnant through the time consuming process of getting the non-germane amendment of portraying

an agricultural commodity on a criminal justice bill removed.

There is still a positive trajectory with all of the advocacy that has grown out of Texas and that is all due to passionate individuals like Jax Finkel and many others she collaborates with towards the cause. “There are not a lot of ppl who get to work on a topic that they’re really passionate about and I’m really lucky to have that and really grateful to do so. I’m hopeful we can continue to look through these potential special sessions and the interim for regulatory advocacy and keep pushing the ball but ultimately I want a medical program my loved ones and I can participate in – ultimately I don’t want to have to worry if my kid or my friend’s kids are going to get arrested for possessing this plant. There are a lot of ppl with a lot of different opinions and as long as I can I’m going to work to advance this topic and whoever wants to walk this path with me is more than welcome to. it’s been a hard and stressful year for everybody in a lot of ways but I’ll continue to be kind to myself and get back at it.”

For more information on the Jax Finkel’s Foundation for an Informed Texas, visit https://www.informedtexas.org

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THE FATE OF DELTA-8 IN 2021

BY JESSE WILLIAMS

HB 3948 (Hemp Cleanup Bill) and HB 2593 (THC Concentrates), were required to have a conference committee report filed and distributed by the evening of May 29th no later than 11:59 p.m. HB 3948 failed to meet that mark due to delta-8 language, while HB 2593 succeeded.

H

B 2593 was able to go through its conference committee after the bill’s author, Rep. Moody, challenged the Senate amendments and the report was distributed at 7:30 pm Saturday evening. Senate amendments to the bill were going to place a cap on delta-8 or any THC isomers at 0.3%, defining anything below such levels as hemp and anything above a class b misdemeanor. The committee agreed to remove the language from the bill.

HB 2593 failed to get a floor hearing in the Senate to confirm the conference committee changes.

When Sen Nathan Johnson requested to hear the bill on the floor, Lt Gov Dan Patrick denied the request. This was likely due to frustration on Patrick’s behalf that the language for delta-8 was not to be found explicitly in the bill at that point, with no other avenues for the language to be attached to.

HB 3948 did not meet the filing and report distribution deadline as required for the bill to move forward. Advocacy leaders were prompt in calling the bill dead. The hang-up on the bill was the language that included delta-8 by targeting synthetic isomers made in a lab from CBD. This language was included in the bill in a different form than in its original draft from the

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House, but was removed in a committee substitute for the House Agriculture committee after backlash from the industry. When the bill was sent to the Senate it was sponsored by Senator Perry, who had sponsored the legislation in the previous session. Senator Perry put language back into the bill that was going to be stricter than the original House bill and the one he had authored himself, at the direction of Lt. Gov Dan Patrick and Governor Greg Abbott. At the committee hearing, Senator Perry stated that if the language was pushed about synthetics, he would be willing to pull the program.

Advocacy groups worked with Perry’s office to strike a middle ground because the options put forward were a total ban of delta-8 or a list of limited restrictions. Advocacy groups slowly worked the language to be something that would have been insanely difficult for the state to prove in court. Items such as proving if a pure delta-8 product was synthetic or coming naturally from the plant, if the item was intoxicating (intoxicating is super subjective when it comes to cannabis vs another substance such as alcohol), etc.

TCC was able to obtain the final language being proposed at the literal last moment during the conference committee. Language for intoxicating and synthetic were removed.

Sec.443.006 TETRAHYDROCANNABINOL CONTENT. (a) Notwithstanding any other law, a person may not manufacture, sell, or purchase a consumable hemp product in this state: (1) that has a delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol concentration of more than 0.3 percent on a dry weight basis; (2 )that exceeds any federal limit for tetrahydrocannabinol; or (3) if additional tetrahydrocannabinol in a concentration greater than 0.3 percent on a dry weight basis has been applied to the product. (b) Chapter 481 prevails to the extent of any conflict with this section.

It is a possibility that the section about Chapter 481 was what was primarily not agreeable. Some advocates believe that the language about additional THC application to products was a deal breaker. The only real changes that would have taken place from the language posted, are (3) and section (b).

Chapter 481 states: Sec. 481.002. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter: (5) “Controlled substance” means a substance, including a drug, an adulterant, and a dilutant, listed in Schedules I through V or Penalty Group 1, 1-A, 2, 2-A, 3, or 4. The term includes the ag-

gregate weight of any mixture, solution, or other substance containing a controlled substance. The term does not include hemp, as defined by Section 121.001, Agriculture Code, or the tetrahydrocannabinols in hemp.

Section 121.001 of the Agriculture Code states: Sec. 121.001. DEFINITION. In this chapter, “hemp” means the plant Cannabis sativa L. and any part of that plant, including the seeds of the plant and all derivatives, extracts, cannabinoids, isomers, acids, salts, and salts of isomers, whether growing or not, with a delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol concentration of not more than 0.3 percent on a dry weight basis.

From this, the average Texan could think that delta-8 would be in the clear. The issue is that DSHS is contending against the federal government that 481.002 being adopted automatically to align with the federal CSA was improper and that the CSA change was improper, insofar as a disagreement with how the DEA clarified these rules earlier this year.

Pursuant to Section 481.034(g), as amended by the 75th Legislature, of the Texas Controlled Substances Act, Health and Safety Code, Chapter 481, the commissioner may object during the 30day period beginning on the day after the date of publication in the Federal Register of a final order designating a substance as controlled or deleting a substance from the schedules.

Note the part about Chapter 121, the rest of that chapter points to another chapter that gives the DSHS Executive Commissioner power to change rules in accordance with the state hemp plan (which must be within federal compliance) and federal code.

Sec. 121.003. STATE PLAN. (a) The department, after consulting with the governor and attorney general, shall develop a state plan to monitor and regulate the production of hemp in this state. The plan must comply with:(1) 7 U.S.C. Section 1639p;(2) Chapter 122; and(3) Chapter 443, Health and Safety Code.

This is a section of 443 Health and Safety Section about DSHS SUBCHAPTER B. POWERS AND DUTIES Sec. 443.051. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY OF EXECUTIVE COMMISSIONER. The executive commissioner shall adopt rules and procedures necessary to administer and enforce this chapter. Rules and procedures adopted under this section must be consistent with: (1) an approved state plan submitted to the United States Department of Agriculture under Chapter 121, Agriculture Code; and (2) 7 U.S.C. Chapter 38, Subchapter VII, and federal regulations adopted under that subchapter.

So, there is a DSHS executive commissioner that thinks the CSA modifications were not appropriate and is not adopting them, as well as possibility operating under the belief they can make rules on hemp as they see fit. From the previously mentioned letter by the DSHS commissioner: “In the capacity as Commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services, John Hellerstedt, M.D., objected to the modifications of the two definitions to the extent that the definitions allow for the presence or addition of tetrahydrocannabinols aside from the presence of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol. Multiple tetrahydrocannabinol isomers and variants may have pharmacological or psychoactive properties…

Decision: The modifications of the two definitions above are not adopted.”

As well the state is under the presumption that it can also ban these substances as they see fit because if the state follows its own law stating to follow 7 U.S.C. Chapter 38, Subchapter VII, this issue then arises and results in courts having to determine if actions taken by DSHS are constitutional or not. This is language from that federal legal code on hemp: “(3) Relation to State and tribal law (A) No preemption Nothing in this subsection preempts or limits any law of a State or Indian tribe that— (i) regulates the production of hemp; and (ii) is more stringent than this subchapter.”

DSHS is operating under the notion that delta-8 is illegal. They likely believe they can control to an extent what Chapter 481 states and con-

that by the end of the year, their labs would be fully up and running, not on a backlog, and ready to test materials presumed to be illegal.

Members that testified about the testing of the delta-8 products spoke in committee on how they had seen the product go to market that was more delta-9 than delta-8, was almost pure delta-9 and marketed as delta-8, or had substances appearing in 3rd party lab tests such as heavy metals, or non-consumable solvents such as bleach or paint thinner. All of which are items not legal under our current hemp law in Texas. It could be likely that DPS/DSHS goes after shops they believe are selling illicit delta-8 items. This is one of the primary reasons, the industry saw advocates across the industry advocating for 3rd party testing for products and audits on labs performing tests.

Unfortunately, when this was brought up, the committee placed the blame of these issues on the industry not policing itself. This comes on the heels of previous legislation for hemp stating that the state via DSHS was taking responsibility for policing these types of issues in the industry.

HB 1325 passed in 2019 states, ““The department and the Department of Public Safety shall establish a process for the random testing of cannabinoid oil, including cannabidiol oil, at various retail and other establishments that sell, offer for sale, distribute, or use the oil to ensure that the oil:(1) does not contain harmful ingredients; (2) is produced in compliance with 7 U.S.C. Chapter 38, Subchapter VII; and (3) has a delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol concentration of not more than 0.3 percent.

siders a controlled substance when the federal government gives permission for revision by the state legislature. They did not approve of the DEA clarifications that did not prohibit delta-8. DSHS, represented by Stephen Pahl from the Department of State Health Services, was present at the committee hearing in the Senate for the hemp bill and stated the same notion. DSHS told the committee they were operating on the concept that delta-8 was not a legal substance to sell. When speaking with Perry’s staff in the last week, information was that their office’s contact with DPS informed them

This new position by the state as put out in the DSHS letter and committee testimony will likely result in many lawsuits across the next two years, just on delta-8 alone. The bill dying, also killed off many opportunities for farmers in the space and research in colleges and universities, along with becoming the first state to have feed as a commodity.

Reminder that the author is not a lawyer, and at no point should anything the author writes be construed as legal advice. Consult with an attorney if you have questions pertaining to the law in Texas on any hemp product.

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PRESENTS

BAD ASS

COWBOY BARBECUE SAUCE

A limited time commemorative CBG product to celebrate the strength and fire of an embattled Cowboy that has fought for Texan rights to Hemp.

Using Cosmic Cowboys Extractions’ Gold Dust CBG Hemp Hash made from the light AND Fluffy

Enjoy our Chemical Free CBG in this robust and spicy sauce that celebrate fighting the good fight.

Hemp buds from ’ Sid Miller’s family

hemp farm in Stephenville Texas

Visit cosmeticcowboys extraction.com now to pre-order your special edition bottle.

New Date! New Venue! New State!

2021

SEPTEMBER 2-4, 2021 Raleigh Convention Center | Raleigh, North Carolina 250+ exhibitors, 3 days of conferences, seminars and workshops, 100+ speakers and presenters, and thousands of attendees from across the hemp supply chain.

Rethink Hemp! | Exhibitor & Sponsor Registration Now Open #SHE2021 #SHE3

SouthernHempExpo.com

BRINGING BALANCE BACK TO MOTHER EARTH

HempEvents.org

OCTOBER 8, 2021 • COLORADO

CONVERSATIONS in

NOVEMBER 5/6, 2021 • MEXICO LetsTalkHemp.com features breaking news, industry interviews, articles and company profiles, market intelligence and a podcast covering all aspects of the hemp supply chain.

LetsTalkHemp.com

March 24-26, 2022 • COLORADO