Penalty Reduction Bill HB 2593 an Update on Joe Moody’s
by Jesse Williams
Rep. Joe Moody (D) of El Paso authored HB 2593. The bill specifically deals with marijuana concentrates of up to 2 oz of tetrahydrocannabinols (THC). Moody had previously authored what has become HB 441 (another penalty reduction bill for marijuana flower) authored by Rep. Zwiener in the 87th legislative session.
HB 2593 would remove tetrahydrocannabinol and related substances from Penalty Group 2 and place them in a new category, Penalty Group 2-B, under the Texas Controlled Substances Act.
Penalties for possession of substances from the new Penalty Group 2-B would have been the same as those in Penalty Group 2-A, which range from a class B misdemeanor if the substance is two ounces or less, to life in prison or a term of five to 99 years and a fine up to $50,000 if the amount of substance possessed is more than 2,000 pounds.
Right now, any amount of concentrate found in your possession is a state felony. The last time penalty reduction was passed by the Texas legislature was 1973.
The bill passed out of the House committee with only two nay votes and passed in the House with a final supermajority vote of 108-33.
The bill proceeded to the Senate where it passed out of committee with only 2 nay votes as well. From there the bill was approved out of the Texas Senate with a delta-8 amendment attached by Senator Perry. The amendment would bring the regulation of delta-8 to what Perry called the federal limit imposed on THC by the 2018 Farm Bill. The second reading of the bill was passed with a 25-6 vote, and after the third reading for the final passage with amendment added, a vote of 24-7 was taken to pass the bill with supermajority support.
Grinded weed shaped as Texas and a joint.(series)
Senator Hinojosa asked if the amendment would bring any lab confusion such as the previous hemp bill, to which Perry responded no. Perry was also asked if the author (Moody) was okay with this amendment, to which the answer was yes.
When the bill went back to the House to see if the author conferred with the amendments or wanted a conference committee, Rep. Moody made a point of order on the bill. Moody requested a conference committee on the grounds that the delta-8 amendment was not germane (not relevant to purpose) to the bill it was added to. The House agreed that the amendment was not germane and the bill went to the conference committee. The same conclusion was reached in the conference committee.
The House then voted on the conference committee version without the delta-8 amendment language and passed the bill again. The bill was then sent to the Senate to be heard by the members on the floor. When sponsor Sen. Nathan Johnson (D) requested for the bill to get a vote on the floor, Lt Gov Dan Patrick denied the request, likely from frustration that the delta-8 amendment language was not present.
When this request on the floor was denied, the bill was effectively dead because the deadline was coming up within hours to have the bill passed by the Senate floor once more and sent to the governor.
Concentrates of THC now remain a state felony in the state of Texas until the legislature convenes again in 2023 to possibly bring up another bill.
Jesse, Russell & Coleman talk about the existing bills with the 87th Legislature that remain on the chopping block; while they also interview H-empirical CBD CEO John Long and head Medical Director Dr. Wendy Askew.
John Long is CEO for H-Empirical, Inc. He is also the CEO for Agronomics of Texas and investor for Totally Happy Cows, LLC (An CBD Agriculture company for cattle and horses). He’s has been a nurse for 28 years specializing in ER, ICU, Rheumatology, Gastroenterology, Neurology and Dermatology.
Dr. Wendy Askew is a board-certified Obstetrician-Gynecologist in private practice in San Antonio, Texas. She is also board certified in Functional and Regenerative Medicine. Dr. Askew is the Chief Medical Officer for H-Empirical, Agronomics of Texas and Totally Happy Cows LLC.
In our May financial edition of the Texas Hemp Reporter Magazine. This issue profiles aspects of the banking industry as it relates to merchant processing, finance, compliance and lending. Our recap of the NOCO 7 Expo, we also preview the Lucky Leaf Expo, discuss Delta 8 after the Hemp market boom, and many new changes in Texas law in the 87th Legislature are also covered. Tips on indoor versus outdoor growing, our possible new radio show, and Hemp oil taste as well as the hemp oil business.
The Magazine will be available on the streets of Austin May 6-7 at all smoke shops and CBD stores as well as All Austin Area HEB & Randal’s. If you hold a permit in Texas you will receive one the following week by mail like usual. Stay tuned for upcoming alerts on our Radio Show the Texas Hemp Show and the next issue will be out July 1st 2021.
Cannabis activist and pioneer Steve DeAngelo discusses how hemp can literally save the world, about its likelihood as an industry disrupter, and what cannabis legalization may look like under President Biden.
Don’t at all be fooled by his mellow demeanor or by his trademark pigtail braids and pork pie hat, because Steve DeAngelo is all business. A pioneering activist for the cannabis reform movement, Mr. DeAngelo has dedicated his life to advocating the cannabis plant first and foremost as a connoisseur, but also as an author, educator, investor and entrepreneur.
He is credited with co-founding Harborside in 2006 as a nonprofit medical cannabis dispensary, when the company was granted one of the first medical licenses in the country. His other achievements are quite impressive: the Discovery Channel miniseries Weed Wars; he was the lead organizer and fundraiser for I-59, Washington D.C.’s medical cannabis initiative; also, Mr. DeAngelo, who studied at the University of Maryland School of Law, successfully litigated against the Department of Justice’s last-ditch effort in 2011 to shut down California’s medical cannabis dispensaries; and he also played a major role in the passage of Prop 64, which legalized recreational cannabis for adults in California.
The Texas Hemp Reporter caught up with the legend himself earlier this year, not long after he parted ways with Harborside Inc, a California-focused cannabis enterprise that is currently a publicly listed company on the Canadian Securities Exchange, where he was co-founder and, most recently, chairman emeritus.
TEXAS HEMP REPORTER:Is the legalization of cannabis on the federal level likely to happen during the Biden presidency?
STEVE DeANGELO: We are likely to see some significant reform at the federal level. I’m not sure that’s going to include what we would call complete legalization. President Biden and Vice-President Harris have a long history of working with law enforcement. They both have a record ‒ not a good record ‒ of passing and enforcing laws that really hurt a lot of people. Kamala Harris, when she was the attorney general of California, oversaw many, many, many cannabis prosecutions. There are still people in prison today because of her prosecutions for something that is legal now. And after she was elected with a lot of the help from the [medical] cannabis industry, she failed to come to our assistance in 2011 when the federal government tried to shut down the California industry. In fact, in a TV interview, she basically laughed about the idea of cannabis reform. So, with that said, I think both Biden and Harris are creatures of a political center. That’s where they want to position themselves; and now the whole Democratic Party is in favor of cannabis ‒ as well as a big chunk of the Republican Party. And, really, cannabis is the only bipartisan consensus issue between the two parties today. Sixty percent of Americans are in favor of legalization. So I do have faith that Biden and Harris will figure out where the political center is on on this, and the more help we give them to do that, the sooner we’ll see reforms and the more likely they’ll be complete.
THR: Now that you’ve cut ties with Harborside, what’s going to be your biggest focus going forward?
SD: I’m really interested in the ESG space, which to some means “Equity, Sustainability, and Governance.” Some people call it “Environmental, Social, and Governance.” There’s a whole sector of investors for whom the whole sector of ESG investing is a growing and increasingly important sector ‒ probably the most rapidly-growing investor sector today. And on the company side, we have many cannabis companies that are going to be headed up by licensees who receive social-equity licenses. And those licenses frequently have a really difficult time finding financial resources that they need to develop their licenses. So that’s a problem I would really like to help solve, and I think there’s a win-win solution there for equity licensees and for investors who are interested in making an impact.
THR: Of course you’ll be focusing on the Last Prisoner Project, too. Tell us, essentially, what the nonprofit is fighting for.
SD: The mission of the Last Prisoner Project is really narrow. We hope someday to put ourselves out of business. Its mission is simple: And that’s to make sure that, as this new, global, legal cannabis industry is built, every single person on the planet who’s imprisoned on cannabis charges is released. It comes out of a basic notion of fairness. We shouldn’t keep punishing people for it. In today’s atmosphere, it’s just completely unacceptable for white guys with Ivy-League degrees working on Wall Street to come into legal cannabis and get licenses and grow and sell tons and tons of cannabis at the same time that there’s mostly black and brown people who are imprisoned for cannabis crimes involving far, far smaller quantities. Eighty-seven percent of cannabis prisoners in the federal system are people of color. Our mission is really focused on cannabis prisoners; it becomes a social-justice mission just by virtue of the fact that so much of the prohibition in the United States is racially driven. … What we do is work for the release of prisoners, and then we also work to make their reentry [into society] productive and fruitful.
THR: On your website is a very compelling, convincing video of you saying how hemp can save the world, how it could replace all the materials that are sickening us as well as the planet. Can you expound on this?
SD: For me, it’s all one plant. There’s this unfortunate confusion of terminology that’s come into place, largely because there’s a loophole under hemp regulation to allow ‘hemp to be grown for human consumption’ as long as it doesn’t contain THC. I think that’s really the wrong way of looking at it. For me, there’s just two kinds of cannabis: cannabis that is produced for human beings to consume, whatever its cannabinoid and terpene profile is; and cannabis that’s produced to make something out of. I don’t muddy those definitions up with THC, because THC is just one of 140 different cannabinoids that prohibition has an obsession with. But that doesn’t mean that we should. I absolutely see industrial hemp as being a critical part of the revolution that’s underway here. Mother Nature was incredibly kind to us. She gave us one plant that wakes up our minds and brings us closer in touch with nature, and at the same time gives us the raw materials that we need to build the new economy, a life-affirming economy. Part of it is raising the consciousness with cannabis, and part of it is just the raw material. Hemp is such an extraordinary raw material. Not only can you make everything and anything out of it the way you could with petroleum, trees or cotton; there’s all these other amazing things you can make out of hemp that you can’t make out of petroleum, trees or cotton, like graphene. There’s a company now that’s making hemp graphene, a semiconductor critical in making cell phones. It’s currently mined in Africa at an extraordinary cost, both financial and social. And now a company has figured out how to make it out of hemp. They’re talking of making houses and airplanes and cars out of hemp graphene. The whole outer parts of our buildings and our cars, maybe even our clothing, could be solar-collection devices. Let me be clear: I’m not talking about CBD. I’m not talking about consumable cannabis. That for me is a different conversation. When we look at industrial hemp in the United States, it is underdeveloped for one major reason, and that is because there is no infrastructure in existence to make sure the hemp crop is turned into the products that the market wants. I’ll give you one example. One of the greatest uses for hemp is in textiles. You can make these absolutely super high-quality textiles out of hemp. You can blend them with cotton, you can make it 100 percent hemp. Levi’s right now is making a jean that is 30 percent hemp fibers and 70 percent cotton. They would like to increase the amount of hemp in there. But the hemp fibers, they’ve had to cottonize them. This is an example of infrastructure. Hemp is the longest, strongest natural fiber on the planet, but because cotton has been such a dominant textile fiber in the United States for so long, we don’t have bast-fiber spineries. We don’t have a way to turn hemp fiber into a hemp yarn without doing what Levi’s is doing, which is basically blowing it up and making it into very, very short, and hence very weak, fiber, rather than trying to take advantage of the full qualities of hemp. Just because the infrastructure is not there. So once we have a sufficient commitment of vision and capital to build that infrastructure, then we’re going to see hemp disrupt every single kind of industry you can imagine. Just about anything that is made, hemp is going to disrupt. Because it’s such a great raw material when done at scale. Anything you can make out of other raw materials can be made out of hemp and it’s usually a much higher-quality product and no more expensive. Then there’s all these things that hemp does that nothing else does. Hemp sequesters 20 tons of atmospheric carbon for every hectare that you harvest. That means that we could stop Global Warming just by planting enough hectares of hemp and harvesting them. And then it makes really simple products like hempcrete, a remarkable material that is as strong as concrete, lighter than concrete, more mold-resistant, more fire-resistant, and less expensive, and not only carbon-neutral but carbon-negative. The hempcrete also sequesters carbon as it dries. Hempcrete is probably the place where we have the least infrastructure problem. I would say that the construction-materials sector is probably the place where we will see the disruption of existing industries by hemp in the shortest period of time in North America, because you don’t really need the complicated infrastructure to produce and use something that most builders can use on the building site.
THR: It’s been a pleasure, Mr. DeAngelo. Good luck to you and thank you for all you do for hemp and cannabis.
January 28, 2021, Non-violent Cannabis offender Michael Thompson at the age of 69, was released from prison after 23 years behind bars even though recreational cannabis use has been legal more than two years in Michigan. Before he was granted clemency, his first opportunity for release would have been at the age of 87.
Sarah Gersten, Executive Director and General Counsel of Last Prisoner Project and founding member of Michigan Cannabis Freedom Coalition, said, “Today marks a momentous occasion for Michael Thompson, his family, and his countless supporters throughout Michigan and across the country. Unfortunately, it also serves as a stark and somber reminder of the thousands of cannabis prisoners who remain behind bars while others profit off of a now legal industry.”
The Texas Hemp Reporter had the chance to catch up with Sarah a week later:
This is pretty exciting right?
SG: Very exciting, it’s been an incredibly exciting month and even more exciting week.
How often does this happen?
SG: The release? We have two distinct release programs, one is the clemency commutation side of it, and then compassionate release. Those are the more frequent, more standard; you go through the judiciary. With the clemency campaigns it’s about crafting a compelling narrative of why someone deserves release, so to do that effectively you have to really get to know their family. With Michael Thompson over the past year I have gotten to know him on a personal level so well. We pushed this really robust campaign for him, and he became sort of a national symbol of this issue. For this to happen with someone that has become as high profile as Michael for me personally to be so involved to get to know him, his family it was once in a lifetime really.
That’s so amazing it’s giving me goosebumps. Do you think this is perhaps a benchmark for prisoners in this similar situation?
SG: It’s tricky because we are absolutely pushing these types of campaigns, but the bigger effort that we’re pushing both nationally and on a state level is for broader policy reform that enables the release of anyone still incarcerated for non-violent cannabis offenses. That work is not as personally satisfying because you don’t get to know the prisoners and the families as you do when you’re crafting a clemency campaign, but it will lead to broad systemic reform and impact thousands of individuals.
I was reading about this and he seems like a salt of the earth, pillar of the community kind of guy and it’s so tragic, but what is his plan now for the future?
SG: Before he was incarcerated Michael worked within his community; he had received awards from the NAACP for his work doing violence reduction in Flint MI, where he’s from, and working with teens involved in gang violence. He really continued that kind of work when he was incarcerated. He served as a mentor to individuals serving with him and people often thought of him as a father or grandfather. He should be retiring now, he loves to garden and be outside, but instead he wants to dedicate himself to criminal justice reform and prison reform.
Wow. Did you get to be there when he was released?
I was! I was actually the one to drive him home! I think because I’m from New Hampshire and it was snowing in MI and a lot of the team was from the west coast. It was awesome.
Do you think this could cause a floodgate of releases?
I do. Through Michael’s case we’ve also been identifying other prisoners in MI that are there for cannabis offenses, that we can submit their clemency petitions for, and through Michaels campaign and advocacy around his case we’ve gotten buy in to reform this issue from the attorney general, to the lieutenant governor, several progressive prosecutors in MI, state law makers. So, through Michael, we’re already pushing this really broad campaign and doing the groundwork to get more individuals in MI out.
What is your goal with the federal work that you’re doing?
Mr. Thompson before his incarceration.
SG: It’s similar federally in that we had spent months advocating with the white house, with the Trump administration for clemency for our federal constituents and three weeks ago he granted clemency to several of our constituents, and I absolutely think that is going to be a symbol of the type of reform that needs to be enacted. What we saw is that the process is fundamentally broken, we need an effective, transparent process and especially for marijuana offenders. There is so much bi-partisan support to provide retroactive relief for those still incarcerated federally. And that was before this most recent signal from majority leader Schumer and other senators to legalize federally.
Great! Do you see a timeline? Could this happen in the next year or two?
SG: If you had asked me that a week ago, I would have been on the fence, but with Senator Schumer coming out and wanting to make this an issue, within this congress, this year, I absolutely think it could happen.
Fantastic! What has been your biggest hinderance to your goals with the Last Prisoner Project?
SG: I would say stigma. There is still such a stigma attached to cannabis, even in criminal justice circles we often get push back because of our narrow focus. People don’t perceive this as the monumental problem that it is, and the other stigma is just around the idea of what we’re doing. There are so many people in this country, elected officials, that believe if you committed a crime, even if it’s now legal, even though the majority of Americans believe it shouldn’t be a crime, that you should remain incarcerated and that you don’t deserve a second chance. That is why it is so important to raise up the stories of people like Michael. For the people that have that mindset, so they can get his story, and that he deserves a second chance, and that he never deserved to be incarcerated in the first place.
Indeed. How can regular people on the street help? I see on the website you have a call to action to write letters, emails and calls, was that the biggest push for it his release? Was that how it eventually happened? Through the voices of the people?
SG: Yes, I think Michael’s case is a shining example of the power of grassroots organizing and advocacy. Without having hundreds of thousands of people write letters and make calls to the governor and the parole board he would still be incarcerated. People in this moment and climate are really jaded and think what I do won’t have an impact. Michael’s case should show everybody that it absolutely does make an impact and those calls were heard. We really harnessed the collective power of so many people to advocate for Michael.
I will look out for him in the news. He is such a figurehead for this community. It’s an honor to speak with you and I appreciate your time today.
2.Release day from left to right: Last Prisoner Project Constituent Donte West, Michael Thompson, Sarah Gersten, and Last Prisoner Project Board Member Erik Murray.
Sarah Gersten Executive Director and General Counsel at Last Prisoner Project
March 2021 Edition delivers to all Austin area HEBs & Whole Foods March 5th. We get ready for the spring season here in Texas as farmers prepare to plant. Read about our seed to sale process, seed companies like Trilogene Seeds, & Hemp Depot. The Last Prisoner Project gets a victory, and we interview the Father of the Legal Cannabis Industry Steve DeAngelo, as well as Sweet Sensi CEO Greg Autry .
Matt is a breeding and processing specialist in the cannabis industry. He has helped build multiple successful cannabis companies ranging from breeding to extraction & post refinement. He is widely known as a thought leader in the industry and speaks at multiple cannabis events including the CBD expo in San Diego and Texas Hemp Conventions. Matt is a cannasseur of top-quality cannabis products and has helped develop some of the leading strains in the hemp & cannabis industries grown today. His direct to consumer brand, Smoking Icons, is a top shelf product full of premium hemp flower exclusively bred by Trilogene Seeds. Matt currently serves as the CEO of both Trilogene Seeds and Smoking Icons.
Podcast # 18 Had Coleman, Russell and Jesse in studio while Matt called in from Longmont Colorado.
Hemp Depot is one of the largest providers of the highest quality hemp CBD oil products, seeds, and clones in the US and the extreme care they’ve put into their growth and vertical integration has taken the company to new heights.
Now a complete seed-to-shelf operation, Hemp Depot did not initially set out with this business model in mind when they were founded in 2015. Andy Rodosevich and Luke Pickering, co-founders of the company, set out in the scope of creating and selling CBD but upon beginning to farm their crops they found there were no good seed genetics for cannabidiol. Out of default, they started a project to create genetics to fit the .3 THC limit and fall into the category of industrial hemp. They subsequently found that the extraction process into oil and distillate wasn’t available at that time either which, again out of necessity, led them to build the infrastructure to make their systems work and this soon translated into the manufacturing side as a whole. Their recognition early on that total control of the process allowed for total traceability and that is what has set Hemp Depot apart in the industry.
The company has grown into three farms across Colorado – a hemp seed production and genetics & testing research facility in Yoder, one in Rush, and another farm containing an extractor in nearby Cope just east of Denver. Colorado Springs houses their manufacturing facility and headquarters where they push production and sales. Hemp Depot deals in retail, wholesale, and white label CBD distribution in a range of topical, tinctures, isolates, and soft gels & tablets – all of which are made in their newly expanded 30,000 sq.ft. facility that houses high speed liquid filling machines, dry powder tablet presses, gummy producing equipment, hot & cold fill topical machines, and high speed labeling capabilities. Their commercial line ranges from high end topical and beauty brands, medicinal ingestible pain relief, tinctures and topicals, and a new smokable line that they are preparing to release called ‘Eddie.’ Hemp Depot’s seed sales are also a consistent line of their business offering custom genetics for grow operations.
2020 brought about a lot of change across the board worldwide, and the hemp industry saw some shifting as well. Many new farmers experienced growing pains of going hot in their inaugural season, while others chose not to grow at all following the surplus harvest of 2019. With a 70% reduction of hemp-growing acreage this past season it is estimated that 2021 will mirror that same farming pattern due to the overproduction in the marketplace. With no futures market, some farmers remain reserved about growing hemp and are reverting back to traditional grow crops they’re familiar with as their prices are currently higher in the market, but from a consumer standpoint they benefit in the market. All of which the company takes into consideration in their operations.
Mike Wandzek, Sales Director in seed & genetics and bulk at Hemp Depot, explained that the company’s viewpoint in structuring and conducting business has been pivotal in their success, even in the 2020 pandemic pivot many businesses had to face. “We were on of the companies fortunate enough to have enough vertical integration and enough sales to pull through and I don’t believe we had a single layoff at the company [during the pandemic.] We were able to keep our manufacturing side employed and busy and had preordered enough to keep us going. 2020 was obviously a little bit of an unknown and now that it has passed we’ve come out better and stronger on the other side.”
Hemp Depot continues to reinvest in their business while viewing it from both an industry and consumer standpoint in efficiency and quality and strive to help the CBD industry as a whole more forward with their focus. With a notable list of certifications with their name including Platinum ISO 9001, Kosher and Leaping Bunny, FDA registered, CBPHE, NSF, Colorado Hemp Authority, National Hemp Association, and all hemp authority certifications, Hemp Depot proves to put quality into their products and production and follows through from start to finish.
The resurgence of hemp production in the US has brought about a lot of new supportive agricultural industry around it – Biochar Now out of Loveland, Colorado has revived a centuries old practice with their multi-patented manufacturing technology to aid in the farming process of this high maintenance crop.
Biochar is a highly adsorbent, specially-produced charcoal with unique properties that is used across a multi-industrial setting in a variety of means ranging from soil reclamation to algae removal programs. With more specialty agriculture, like hemp, increasing in popularity, the benefits of this organic-based solution are being proven to aid with exponentially higher yields in an economical fashion.
The general concept dates back over 5,000 years to the agricultural practices of indigenous Amazonian tribes. Modern technology and political push has reformed it into a suitable ecological alternative for oil & gas, railroad, plastic, concrete, and asphalt companies with EPA compliance and soil amendment. In high value crop production it’s a one-time investment proven to improve the soil, aid in nutrient absorption of the plant, and result in overall increased growth of the crop.
As hemp is a high maintenance crop in terms of maintaining the legal standards of THC, growers need to take into consideration how big a part nutrients play in the growth cycle and quality of the resulting harvest or a crop can quickly go hot. Biochar helps mediate this by binding nutrients from the fertilizer and keeping there at the root zone for the plant to take up when and wherever it needs it. Its high level of absorbency helps structure water usage as well.
Biochar Now’s patented technology converts agricultural and forestry waste into a pure carbon through a process called pyrolysis. This is where the biomass is heated in an oxygen-deprived environment to break down the cells and convert the cellular structure into pure carbon, leaving the part that has special properties which are beneficial to the growth of the plant. These parts bind nutrients, absorb water and release it back to the plant, inviting in microbes to house in it to make a living soil. Growers work the 2-3% of product by volume into the root zone as a “one size fits all” additive that doesn’t affect pH levels. When the fertilizer or manure is added it binds the nutrients and remains there for the plant to take them up when and wherever and prevents the nutrients from washing out into the water table or nearby water sources causing algae blooms. The added benefit of its water retention properties is that it helps structure and decrease water usage by almost half, making it a beneficial choice in drier climates especially. With a 17 thousand year half-life in soil, the product is a one-and-done application and hemp customers see a return on investment within the first harvest, increasing their biomass yields 200-300% in a single season. An added benefit is that it doesn’t require any specialized equipment in the application process as the company provides a variety of sizes they can recommend to fit pre-existing equipment.
Biochar Now prides itself in holding more environmental approvals that any other company in their industry and as the technology is becoming more increasingly used and accepted, they are currently undergoing significant expansion throughout North America to bring this highly restorative product to more industries. As the hemp industry grows, greater efforts towards increased sustainability are being made in grow processes across the board. Biochar Now’s research and technological development towards sequestering carbon emissions and amending both air and soil is revolutionizing industries across the board and ushering in new growth for hemp.
As a new generation of hemp farmers and entrepreneurs take root across the country there are a multitude of risks that can take a new business down in the first years of establishment. Even the most seasoned farmer and savvy business person will encounter unforeseen obstacles in any stage of the process. These can become valuable lessons or fatal blows, and a well-developed business plan is the best defense against the latter.
Employing credentialed consultants to address potential problems, solutions, and make projections based on research and the valuable experience of others is the best way to forecast for success. Fortunately, Texas is home to a variety of advisors to guide you through every part of the process from seed to sale.
Assistance with business compliance and formation can be found with lawyers and accountants who specialize in hemp and marijuana law. Here in Texas, Ritter Spencer is known for their expertise in compliance and Cannabis Business Law Group-Coats Rose brings significant experience from across the supply chain in multiple jurisdictions that focus on commercial litigation. Carr Riggs and Ingram CPAs can help with tax questions, business set up, insurance and employee benefits packages. Navigating the nuances of regulatory compliance, government tax requirements, hemp/medical marijuana licensing, product labeling/marketing, and real estate issues in a rapidly changing landscape is tricky. Choosing a firm that specializes in this heavily regulated niche industry will provide guidance from the outset and insure compliance for your endeavor.
Consider the benefits of growing indoors in a greenhouse, or a land lease. The Texas Hemp Ranch in Webberville leases 10 acre pre-fertilized plots with two grow cycles and well water access or irrigation from the Colorado river. Avery Barksdale at Texas Greenland Development Company offers 5-400 acres to lease monthly or seasonally in several areas of Texas. Using greenhouses provides protection from the elements as well as pests. Customize the configuration to meet the needs of the landscape for the best outcome of your product by speaking with the experts at Reef Industries. They source a variety of laminates and provide fabrication options to suit every need.
With so many companies to choose from that offer seeds and starts getting a cross section of information about suitable varietals and methods is important. Factors to consider are latitude, soil PH, end use and certification. Uniseeds, Hydroshack, Riverside Hemp, and Garcia Bros Organics provide consultation services along with products to help farmers best determine which processes and products are best for their conditions.
Scientific analysis of soil, water, and fertilizers is the most effective way to determine what kind of additives to use for a successful harvest. TPS agricultural provides data analysis, DIY kits, lab consulting and solutions along with products to repair, stimulate, and improve production.
Identifying THC levels throughout the grow process is recommended, and certified lab tests are required at harvest time. Any laboratory testing hemp for THC concentration under the U.S. Domestic Hemp Production Program must be registered with the Drug Enforcement Administration to handle controlled substances. Zosi Analytical, and AFL Texas are both DEA approved and can identify toxins and provide cannabinoid and THC profiles. Some labs also offer manufacturing and consulting, labeling and R&D, shelf life studies and work with a variety of products from gummies to body products.
When it comes to harvesting, Texas Premium Hemp Producers LP in Ulm, TX are the experts in bucking and drying. Inpak Systems manufactures bag fillers and closers for seeds, flowers, dried pellets or chopped leaves and Hempsac manufactures the bags to protect and preserve the product during storage and transportation. Transporting the product poses a unique set of challenges where only experts should be employed like JW Transport Services.
All of these vendor contacts can be found in the Texas Hemp Reporter as well as here:
Adrian Garcia Farms, owned and operated by Adrian Garcia, is located in the west Texas town of Big Spring. Adrian has farmed cotton for the last three years on 200 acres of 100% USDA Certified Organic farmland. When the 2018 Farm Bill was signed, allowing for the cultivation of hemp, he turned his sights towards becoming one of the first organic farmers to grow hemp in Texas. He built a couple of greenhouses, sourced reliable CBD genetics and went through the USDA’s rigorous organic certification process and started growing hemp.
Garcia Bros Organics: 100% USDA and Texas Department of Agriculture Certified Organic Hemp Flower!
We discuss his celebratory win at the recent Taste of Texas Hemp Cup as Adrien and his family won the PEOPLES CHOICE award for flavor profile for his 2020 Berry Blossom flower.
The in-person event will be held in Houston, Texas on December 11 through 12 and feature networking, exhibitions, education, and seminars
Houston, Texas – October 28, 2020 – The Original CBD Expo South 2020 will be held in-person on December 11 through December 12, 2020 in Houston, Texas. The event, hosted by MACE Media Group, is the 17th conference by the creators of the Original Expo Tour and will be an exciting opportunity to bring the cannabis, wellness, and CBD communities together after nearly a year of virtual programming.
“We are looking forward to the opportunity to connect with and bring together our strong CBD community of leaders, new-entrants, and innovators,” said Celeste Miranda, founder and president of MACE Media Group and Cannabinoid Industry Association (CBDIA). “The CBD Expo is a time for us to reconnect, learn, and grow, both personally and professionally. We look forward to a safe and rewarding event.”
The event will feature exhibits from end products producers, equipment manufacturers, and ancillary businesses including financial and legal service providers that display the latest and most innovative advancements in CBD. Exhibitors will have the opportunity to directly engage with consumers, dispensary owners, and buyers from well-known entities like Whole Food, CVS Pharmacy, Starbucks Coffee, and Trader Joe’s.
In addition, the expo will offer unique cannabinoid education seminars from leading cannabis and cannabinoid PhDs, physicians, scientists, and researchers from around the globe. Seminar tracks include Research and Medicine, Regulation and Compliance, and Cannabinoid Education Certification.
Networking and community building opportunities will be at the forefront of this year’s event. Over 190,000 individuals have attended the CBD Expo since its inception and always brings a diverse group of cannabinoid and cannabis professionals within areas of education, advocacy, and business.
To attend this year’s event or learn more, visit us online at cbdexpo.net.
New restrictions and safety protocol will be in place due to COVID-19. To learn more about how we are protecting attendees and exhibitors, see here.Please direct all media inquiries to Chloe Latture at [email protected].
About MACE Media GroupMACE Media Group publishes niche cannabis industry trade publications. Its premiere title, Terpenes and Testing Magazine, was the first industry trade publication devoted to cannabis science. Its newer publications, CBD Health & Wellness Magazine, Extraction Magazine, and Hemp Farmer, revolve around the growing cannabinoid industry to provide news on trending applications, medical research, and updates with laws and regulations.
MACE also produces many trade events that attract dozens of cannabis and mainstream media journalists. Currently, MACE Media Group is producing a tour of CBD expos bringing together thousands of industry influencers, forming the most comprehensive CBD event in the United States.
California’s wine industry is quite the behemoth, a staple in the American economy.
If it were its own country, the state would be the fourth largest wine producer in the world. California makes 81 percent of all U.S. wine, and three out of every five bottles sold in the country comes from the Golden State.
Just look at last year’s numbers for more proof: In 2019, 241.5 million nine-liter cases of California wine were sold within the U.S., amassing an estimated $43.6 billion in sales. Also in 2019, American wine exports totalled $1.63 billion, with 95 percent coming from California wineries.
California wine sales in the U.S. grew 6 percent in 2019, despite the state legalizing adult-use cannabis in January 2018, which some feared would eat into the state’s wine market.
But 2020 may tell a vastly different story for the industry, says Robert P. Koch, president and CEO of the San Francisco-based Wine Institute. “This year will be more challenging, especially for small- and medium-sized wineries, because of the closure of tasting rooms and restaurants,” he says in a wineinstitute.orgarticle.
These changes have emerged because of COVID-19, of course, and while it is too early in the year to predict a drop in the California’s total revenue from wine, we can surely expect a noticeable dip based on the recession alone: People with a slash in their disposable incomes are less likely to buy a $50 bottle of Cabernet Franc from the Napa Valley, perhaps opting instead for $8 bottle from Argentina.
So considering this inevitable dip, should California vineyards, each with hundreds of acres perfect for agriculture (bountiful sun and cool air from the Pacific Ocean), consider pivoting to a crop with perhaps an even more promising future? Such as hemp?
After all, according to the Brightfield Group, the market for hemp-derived CBD is expected to reach $23.7 billion by 2023, thanks in part to the passing of the 2018 Farm Bill. And this doesn’t even include the market for hemp alone, which can be grown for construction, textiles, clothing, food, paper, bioplastics, insulation and biofuel.
And so the hemp market doesn’t rely on a selective niche of consumers that use its product for recreational purposes only (such as wine drinkers and cannabis users). Just about everyone could benefit from hemp in one way or another.
Also, unlike wine grapes which take several months to grow and several months to ferment before they ever become drinkable wine, hemp plants can mature in just a few months.
But, say, a commercial vineyard in a place like the Sonoma Valley wants to reserve a few acres of its property for growing hemp. Does the growing of either crop affect the other’s final product?
A Wine Spectator article titled “Can Cannabis and Wine Coexist?” tells how the drift of fungicides (used by many California winemakers to prevent mildew) have been known to render a cannabis harvest unsaleable when the crop is tested for regulation. And one can speculate the same would apply to hemp plants, especially if they’re used for CBD products.
The opposite occurs, too. “On the flip side, cannabis can release organic compounds called terpenes,” the article’s author Aaron Romano writers, “one of which is eucalyptol, known for tainting the flavor of grapes.” It should be known that hemp plants also have terpenes.
Corey Beck, CEO of Francis Ford Coppola Winery and former president of the Sonoma County Vintners, was quoted in the article, saying, “If cannabis can co-exist with the right regulations, and not be intrusive to our neighbors, then it should be available to a farmer who needs to put food on the table for their family.” He added that the wine industry is changing because of consumers drinking less and, therefore, wineries growing few grapes.
“I’m not suggesting the trend is here to stay, but if you are a grapegrower and can’t find a buyer in the short term, your choice in agricultural crops which provide a return such as grapes are limited.”
When you tell Seattle residents you moved to Seattle from Austin, you generally get two very different follow-up questions, depending on the person: One is, “What tech company do you work for that brought you here?” (It’s a tech hub very much like Austin, with Amazon having the largest presence in the city.) The other is, “Did you move here for the legal weed?”
The latter is the most ubiquitous response, I’ll be honest, because Washington was among the first states (with Colorado) to legalize cannabis for recreational use. This was in 2012, 14 years after the state first legalized medical marijuana. And the strange thing is, after having lived here a year, going to a dispensary is no more exciting than buying a bottle of wine at the grocery store. I’ve heard some people stopping by “the weed store: while running errands after work or before their weekend grocery run.
And while legal cannabis is an everyday part of life here, one might be shocked to learn that it took the state much longer to come around to hemp. The state had no problem breaking federal laws when it legalized cannabis eight years ago; and it turned out very lucrative: In 2018 alone, the state’s total retail sales of cannabis hit $1 billion, when the state collected $362 million in cannabis excise tax in the 2018 fiscal year; then in 2019, total retail sales hit $1.1 billion, with $387.6 million in excise tax. Washington’s cannabis market was projected to hit $2.1 billion in 2020.
The Green Rush of the 21st Century boomed with WA, & CO to join CA in allowing recreational marijuana in 2012.
But yet the state waited until the 2014 farm bill to pass legislation to allow for the planting of some 180 acres of hemp in 2017, and this was all under the umbrella of the Industrial Hemp Research Pilot program, which allowed for only the licensed “research”of hemp in the state.
Finally, earlier this year, almost two full years since the 2018 farm bill was passed, which legalized the cultivation and selling of hemp at the federal level, Washington state repealed and replaced its pilot program with one that allowed for people in the state to become fully licensed to grow hemp.
Of course this approach to regulating the state’s hemp industry likely stems from the nature of the national hemp industry, the market for which is not limited to a single state and up to state laws like cannabis. In other words, a hemp producer in Washington doesn’t have to rely on consumers solely within the state; now that hemp is legal federally, and no longer a Schedule I drug, the producer can ship its product all over the country regardless of where it’s grown.
However, if the Washington state hemp growers want a piece of the hemp-derived CBD consumer products market in the U.S., which is predicted to be worth anywhere from $6 billion to $7 billion in the year 2025, then Washington state will have to catch up to the other states that are taking a bigger market share, ones like Kentucky, Montana, Colorado and North Carolina that are producing and selling much more hemp. They’ve been doing it longer and have better infrastructure and more efficient supply chains to successfully grow, market and sell this cash crop.
The state should make hemp a major priority much like it has cannabis, that is if its growers want to exploit the huge demand we’ve seen this year for smokable hemp, which Nielsen researchers say will likely total $70 to $80 million in 2020 and could likely grow five times that number by 2025.
Episode 9: Leann Hemenway I Cannabis Banking Product Manager with Herring Bank.
Leann discusses opportunities for growers in the Texas area states to bank with Herring Bank in this rough waters of finance and compliance surrounding the growing Hemp and Cannabis space in the United States. Merchant services are not always offered with Financial providers in the Hemp space so Leann tells us about how to work with them and their partnership with “KINDPAY” .
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE PODCAST
Herring Bank began banking Cannabis-Hemp related businesses in April of 2019, with the goal of building lasting relationships.
Innovative Hemp Building Operation began in Texas in 2008
Passion met opportunity for Gail Moran in early 2008 when an unlikely candidate for her project – hemp – came into play with an innovative building venture, launching the first US venture of its kind and paving the way for the future of the crop in this industry.
Born & raised in Trinidad, Gail always carried on her affinity for limewashed buildings, romanticizing the construction that stood the test of time and built its own character with it. As she built her career as a general contractor, she placed her focus on using these old world materials and architecture in her own work, falling in love in particular with Mexican inspired buildings 33 years ago when she came to Texas from upstate New York. In her quest to find materials to build an old hacienda-style structure with authentic limewash on the outside, she found a company out of Chicago called US Heritage who specialized in historic restorations and had an extensive knowledge about lime in the building process, which is unlike concrete at all. Being the right person in the right place at the right time the Chicago company proposed a project idea to Gail that they were wanting to launch and being open to their pitch and having the means she undertook the first hemp project led by them in the US.
The Chapel’s Hempcrete Structure coming together as it dries.
At that time other countries in Europe, Australia, and Canada had already embraced hemp as a building material and the US launch required a lot of training and direct help to get the project underway. A restoration company out of Massachusetts aided in guiding the team through the learning experience with all of the different building trades adapting to the new techniques of framing, production and even lack of specialized equipment available. The company out of the United Kingdom furnished the hemp, binder and lime, covering the shipping costs and support to help the project get underway. The team had to rely on the hand-mixed bucket method as their concrete sprayers and pumps couldn’t accommodate the density of this new material, dumping and tamping it into handmade plywood forms to create the 12” thick walls. Being smaller structures, they were able to successfully modify the workflow, however lacking the specialized equipment they had overseas kept them from being able on any larger scale projects and push the innovations to any larger companies. The other large factor that kept the team from gaining any momentum on the hemp project was the unfortunate timing of the market crash that year. With financial institutions not loaning money and businesses folding there was no capital in the market to push the use of hemp in the building industry and the momentum of the endeavor eventually folded to the times.
Gail Moran Pouring the Hempcrete/Lime Base into the Project circa 2008
While Gail and her team had complete confidence in hemp providing the depth and timeless look and quality she sought out, and got positive public response in the symposiums she conducted with it through her Hopewell Project, the idea ultimately had to be shelved as timing just was not on their side in the industry at the time of the project. As the personal recipient of her efforts, the hemp buildings that were constructed on her property in Montgomery, Texas by her all-woman team remain this day to be the first hemp buildings in the United States and remain educational opportunities for the material as it rises in popularity again in this region. In addition to its green properties and use of the shaft of the plant, the hemp in building provides phenomenal thermodynamic qualities, material strength, pest resistant, and eliminates drywall and insulation. Should the industry build and begin to gain the physical means to take on larger scale project, she stands by this material’s potential to bring a new façade to construction.
Gail Moran has proven to be a statement of innovation in both her field and indirectly with education and de-stigmatization in the hemp campaign, providing the means and support to use this versatile crop in yet another way as well as not standing down to seeking out other means to bring a more authentic look to construction. With the introduction to a natural product in building it begins a conversation in authenticity and more positive control over how we view and take on building the world around us, working with what we can produce in our own means beyond fabricating so much of it.
Constructed on her property in Montgomery, Texas by her all-woman team, Gail Moran and the Chapel remain to this day to be the first hemp buildings in the United States
