As Texas Hemp Farmers Prepare For Their First-Ever Harvest, Cannabis Regulation Remains Complicated

Texas is preparing for the first-ever legal cannabis harvests since the plant was banned statewide in 1931.

In Bergheim, Texas, just north of San Antonio, there’s a skunky smell in the air.

“You know, that’s a really good description. Skunky is a very typical terpene that is in most of these plants,” Austin Ruple said.

He’s the president and co-owner of Pur IsoLabs  a hemp and cannabidiol (CBD) company that grows hemp and manufactures retail CBD products.

Ruple stood next to a field of more than 300 hemp plants a type of cannabis that’s rich in CBD, a legal compound that does not get users high. These plants contain no more than 0.3% THC the psychoactive component that does get users high.

Pur IsoLabs is in Kendall County, where more than 100 people were hit with possession charges for possession of less than 2 ounces of cannabis over the past year. So, how does this whole field exist?

“You’re looking at permitted hemp in the state of Texas,” Ruple said.

A Red State Turns Green: The Cannabis Industry In Texas

After the 2018 farm bill that legalized hemp passed at the federal level, Texas followed suit during its 2019 state legislative session. This farm and others around the state are preparing for the first-ever legal cannabis harvest since the plant was banned statewide in 1931. [Read More @ Houston Public Media]