Young People Fight Back Against Hemp Recriminalization in Texas
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Gina Giorgio
Director of Strategy and Development
Students for Sensible Drug Policy
[AUSTIN, TX – April 22, 2025] – As part of an ongoing campaign to prevent the recriminalization of cannabis products in Texas, representatives from Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP), the largest youth-led network dedicated to ending the War on Drugs, recently testified at the Texas State House in strong opposition to two legislative proposals, House Bill 28 (HB28) and Senate Bill 3 (SB3), which threaten to severely curtail the state’s legal hemp market and potentially criminalize consumers.
Jeannette McKenzie, an Elected Director on SSDP’s youth-led Board of Directors who also serves as Director of People for the Texas Cannabis Collective (TCC), and Halle Tarvin, a PhD student in Medical Anthropology at Southern Methodist University who helped found the SSDP chapter at the University of North Texas and is now TCC’s Director of Research and Analysis, testified during the committee hearing on April 8, arguing that HB28 and SB3 represent a significant step backward, threatening a growing Texas industry, limiting consumer access to potentially beneficial products, and risking the unnecessary criminalization of Texans.
“My concern as a citizen lies in the criminalization aspect of the bill,” said McKenzie. “People will order banned products, they will get arrested, and it will lead to mass incarceration for consumers. Throwing people in jail will not solve our problems.”
She detailed the devastating, long-lasting negative impacts of incarceration on individuals, families, and communities—including barriers to education, employment, housing, and exacerbated health issues—arguing that these harms far outweigh the potential issues the bills seek to address, which could be managed through sensible regulation.
“If you’re concerned for consumers’ health and wellness, I can assure you incarceration will only exacerbate these issues,” said McKenzie.
In her testimony, McKenzie urged legislators to consider the principles of harm reduction, which she defined as “an evidence based philosophy that emphasizes individual liberty by aiming to reduce negative consequences associated with any behavior or action that has potential risks.”
“I’ve heard concerns from legislators today…originating from a place of concern for public safety,” McKenzie stated. “Education and regulation are proven methods that reduce harm and keep our communities safe.”
McKenzie and Tarvin argued for regulation modeled after existing frameworks, like the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC), rather than prohibition.
“The current regulations for the hemp market are not being properly enforced,” said McKenzie. “There is also a need for additional regulations as cannabis science has evolved…What cannabis needs is its own version of TABC that is specific to these products and led by experts in the complexities of the plant.”
“We need a state-level regulatory agency only focused on cannabis, like other U.S. states. Such an authority oversees cultivation, distribution, business standards, education, testing, medical care, research, and the enforcement of such regulations,” said Tarvin. “Banning every cannabinoid except for CBG and CBD is not only scientifically impossible, but it will enable the black market to boom to an extent never before seen in Texas.”
The two SSDPers also pushed back against attempts to limit the legal cannabinoid market in Texas to beverages alone.
“Limiting cannabis to the beverage market and reducing it to solely THC would be a disservice to the plant and the potentials it offers,” said McKenzie.
“I don’t understand what limiting products to beverages does for child safety. Can children not open cans?,” quipped Tarvin. “All of this talk of extraction in synthesized cannabinoids neglects the entourage effect, a phenomenon which provides therapeutic benefits when the full spectrum of cannabinoids, including those trace cannabinoids, are present in a product. These beverages will produce no such effect because of their limited cannabinoid types due to this bill as well as beverage processing itself.”
The proposed bills seek to impose drastic restrictions on consumable hemp products in Texas, erasing hard fought policy wins in the Lone Star state. HB28 aims to prohibit edible and inhalable hemp products, permitting only beverages, and would limit legal cannabinoids primarily to cannabidiol (CBD), cannabigerol (CBG), and Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). It also includes age restrictions, packaging requirements, advertising limits, and buffer zones around schools. SB3 takes a similar path, proposing limits on cannabinoids, stricter licensing and testing, and establishing new criminal penalties for non-compliance.
“The Lone Star State locks up a higher percentage of its people than any independent democratic country on earth—and SB3 and HB28 would worsen that problem,” said SSDP Executive Director Kat Murti, who grew up in North Texas and started her career in drug policy in Dallas in 2007. “Texans deserve better cannabis policy that reflects their overwhelming support for compassionate programs that reduce the harms caused by prohibition. SSDP is proud to support the work of the young Texans who are making a stand to better their communities and fight for what is right.”
This latest hearing comes after months of hard work by SSDP’s Texas advocates alongside the TCC; McKenzie previously testified in opposition to SB3 to the Texas State Affairs Committee on March 3rd with Texas State University SSDP Ambassador Blake Coe in attendance as well, which the TCC and SSDP followed up with a widely-attended lobby day on March 11.
SB3 was authored by Sen. Charles Perry, a Republican serving Texas’ 28th District, and had its first hearing in the Texas Senate Committee on State Affairs on March 3. Even though over 200 constituents showed up to testify in opposition to the bill, the Committee voted in favor of SB3 on March 10, with the Senate ultimately passing the bill on March 19 with a 26/5 vote.
On April 7, the House Committee on State Affairs heard testimony on SB3 as well as companion bill HB28, introduced by Rep. Ken King, a Republican serving Texas’ 88th District. Over 500 constituents registered opposition to each bill, and the 8:00 a.m. hearing continued well into the night, wrapping up at nearly 2:30 am.
For now, the fate of SB3 and HB28 remains uncertain with both proposed bills currently left “standing in committee” and awaiting further action from the Texas state legislature. In the meantime, SSDP continues to raise awareness about and push back against the unjust recriminalization of hemp both across the state of Texas and beyond.
“This fight is not over,” said Murti. “The past decade has seen incredible wins for sensible cannabis policy. We are now witnessing an attempt to claw all that progress back—but SSDPers across the nation will not allow that to happen. Young people have always been on the frontlines of the War on Drugs. The War on Drugs is a War on Us and we are dedicated to bringing it to an end.”
With chapters on campuses and in communities across the country, Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) is the largest national youth-led network dedicated to ending the War on Drugs. Our national staff, Board of Directors, chapters, and alumni work together to replace the disastrous War on Drugs with policies rooted in evidence, compassion, and human rights, at a grassroots level.
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For more information, please visit: https://ssdp.org/blog/ssdpers-testify-in-texas-state-house/
