6 June 5 -11, 2025 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents “[The dropoff in enrollment] is not un- usual for UNT. When I talk to colleagues across the state, this is part of a larger trend that we’re seeing now,” Keller said. Keller said regional recruitment and stu- dent retention will be crucial to keeping the university on a positive path forward. ▼ CANNABIS BUZZ KILL THE HEMP-DERIVED THC INDUSTRY IN TEXAS HAS BEEN DEALT A DEVASTATING BLOW BY THE LEGISLATURE. NOW, BUSINESSES MUST WEIGH THEIR OPTIONS. BY ALYSSA FIELDS T he Texas House has passed Senate Bill 3, a blanket ban on all hemp-de- rived Tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, products, torpedoing an $8 billion industry and threatening thousands of business own- ers across the state. In 2019, Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill that legalized the sale of products with less than 0.3% THC. In just five years, the indus- try exploded, with more than 8,500 hemp manufacturing and distribution license- holding businesses in the state. But the legalization of hemp-derived THC products has been massively scruti- nized by lawmakers and law enforcement alike, alleging that dangerously high-con- centration products have slipped through the cracks and landed on store shelves. The claim isn’t completely unfounded. Follow- ing a series of smoke shop raids, the Allen Police Department seized products with potencies far beyond the legal limit more than once. Instead of introducing more regulations and allowing for the industry to continue under tighter control, Texas lawmakers have elected to ban THC products entirely. “This is really sickening,” said a spokes- person for Dallas Hemp Co., a local luxury hemp-based retailer. The bill still has to clear a potential veto by Abbott, who is being lobbied hard by its op- ponents in the industry and veterans who rely on THC for health, before it becomes en- forceable. But according to the spokesperson, Dallas Hemp Co. and similar businesses will have to strongly consider leaving the state. “If we’re not able to sell our product as a legally compliant company, we might be go- ing away,” they said. Hayden Meek, owner of Delta 8 Denton, drove to Austin for the bill’s original reading the day before it was pushed. “We were up at the Capitol the day be- fore, hoping they were going to vote for it, but it kept getting delayed to the point where we all had to go home,” said Meek. Meek headed back to Denton and livestreamed the vote. “I was on the edge of my seat… whenever it came through, it was really disappoint- ing,” he said. Streaming from a hotel in Alabama, where a similar crackdown on THC prod- ucts is taking place, Jim Higdon, co-founder of Cornbread Hemp, a THC gummy com- pany, was similarly disappointed. Cornbread Hemp, based out of Kentucky, has a strong market in Texas, one that it could soon lose. “It’s unclear to me this morning what im- pact the ban is going to have on direct con- sumer sales into Texas,” said Higdon. “We’re ripping something that we’ve taken for granted away from hundreds of thou- sands of Texans. How that’s going to affect business and Texans’ daily lives is more im- portant to me right now than how that’s go- ing to affect [Cornbread Hemp].” Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick cannot call a special session, but as the overseer of the Senate, he can hold one of Abbott’s priority bills hos- tage until a special session is enacted. “It was gutting, gut-wrenching, really aw- ful that Texas was taking a step backward at the demand of the lieutenant governor,” said Higdon. According to Higdon and Meek, there is a rumor on the street that Patrick is gun- ning for a bill that would increase teacher salaries. “What we’ve been hearing from repre- sentatives and lobbyists is they were holding the school funding program hostage, essen- tially, and saying, ‘If you don’t vote to ban THC, then we’re not going to fund teacher raises,” said Meek. “That was probably the nastiest exposure I’ve ever had to politics. That was gut-wrenching to see.” Meek isn’t nailing boards over his store doors yet, and says a large coalition of hemp industry businesses in Texas are already in communication with a strong legal team hoping to defend the Texans reliant on the sale of THC products. “There’s a huge coalition of people that I’ve been lucky to speak [with for] nearly a year at this point,” he said. “We’ve all been talking and collaborating. It’s a huge coali- tion that represents probably at least 80% of the hemp industry in Texas.” The battle against THC has been going on for months, and Higdon and Meek both felt betrayed by lawmakers who swayed in alliance with Patrick. “There were the representatives that fought tooth and nail to keep small busi- nesses open,” said Meek. “Their names will forever be seared in my brain, and I am so very thankful to them. Some of the repre- sentatives, I understand their back was against a wall, but I would have liked to see them represent us better. I’m not bitter. I’m disappointed.” ▼ CANNABIS (NOT) THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE DENTON CITY COUNCIL REPEALS MARIJUANA DECRIMINALIZATION MANDATE. BY ALYSSA FIELDS A fter more than $200,000 in legal fees and a year spent fighting a law- suit filed by Attorney Gen. Ken Pax- ton, the Denton City Council voted in favor of repealing an unenforced city mandate that decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana in a tight 4-3 vote. Back in 2022, Denton voters approved Proposition B by a 72% vote and de- criminalized mari- juana possession of less than four ounces, but police never complied with the mandate at the direction of city offi- cials. “In short, the City does not have the authority to im- plement some provi- sions of Proposition B without changes to current drug laws by Congress and the Texas Legislature,” City Manager Sara Hensley wrote in a 2023 statement. By January of 2024, Paxton filed a suit against Denton and four other cities for allowing propo- sitions that would decriminalize mari- juana to appear on voter ballots. Paxton has since filed a similar suit against the city of Dallas for a similar proposition, but the city has yet to strike it from their charter. “I will not stand idly by as cities run by pro-crime extremists deliberately violate Texas law and promote the use of illicit drugs that harm our communities,” said Paxton in a release announcing the suits. “This unconstitutional action by municipali- ties demonstrates why Texas must have a law to ‘follow the law.’ It’s quite simple: the legislature passes every law after a full de- bate on the issues, and we don’t allow cities the ability to create anarchy by picking and choosing the laws they enforce.” Now, citing the legal fees associated with defending Proposition B, the city council successfully voted to repeal the mandate despite public opposition and an hour of public testimony urging the council to side with voters. “We all went into the meeting last night knowing how this was going to go,” Nick Stephens, co-chair of Decriminalize Den- ton, a nonpartisan organization dedicated to decriminalizing marijuana in the city, said to the Observer. “We knew that the vote had al- ready been set based on the conversations that we had prior to the meeting.” Dentonites Want Decriminalization T he city placed the item on their weekly agenda on Friday, May 16, of- fering residents a few days to prepare their testimonies for the public hearing. “Without prior warning or community engagement, the newly published agenda for [the] Denton City Council meeting lists a surprise scheduled vote to repeal the modest misdemeanor-level cannabis de- criminalization initiative ordinance that was adopted by [72]% of City of Denton voters in November 2022,” wrote Decrimi- nalize Denton in a press release. “That is unacceptable.” Before the city council convened, a group Unfair Park from p4 Malen Blackmon After a day of postponing, the Texas House voted in favor of a THC ban, threatening thousands of businesses specializing in the products. Alyssa Fields Mayor Gerard Hudspeth, left, voted in favor of repealing Denton’s low-level marijuana decriminalization ordinance. Mack Reinwand, center, the city’s attorney, recommended the city repeal the ordinance. Councilmember Brandon Chase McGee, right, voted against repealing the ordinance.
