Early this year, Texas enacted a law that legalized industrial hemp in this conservative state where all attempts to legalize marijuana have failed. However, the legalization of hemp has made the prosecution of marijuana cases more complex, and many District Attorneys have elected to stop prosecuting marijuana possession cases in their jurisdictions.
A clear divide has emerged between the prosecutors in urban counties, such as Dallas, and those from rural areas, such as Yoakum County. Those in urban areas have generally elected to stop prosecuting marijuana possession cases while those in counties located far from large urban centers have vowed to continue prosecuting these cases.
The DAs say that the law legalizing industrial hemp has imposed a burden upon prosecutors to prove that a given substance has a THC content that exceeds the legal definition of hemp, and therefore the person in possession of that substance is breaking the law. Without sophisticated testing equipment, the prosecutors argue that it is hard for them to prove that someone was found in possession of marijuana and not hemp.
People have speculated that the prosecutors from rural areas have differed from their counterparts in urban counties because the rural-based prosecutors want to maintain the image that they are tough on crime (a perception that has even been immortalized in movies).
Many prosecutors have said that the hemp law added a testing requirement to the work done by prosecutors, without availing funds for that testing. Consequently, these officials have decided to stop going after low-level marijuana offenders until funds are availed to procure THC testing equipment and hire qualified personnel to use that equipment.
This decision by many prosecutors hasn’t gone down well with people in decision-making positions higher up. For example, Gov. Greg Abbot, the Lieutenant Governor and other top leaders penned a joint letter to prosecutors in the state reaffirming that marijuana is still illegal and they should continue prosecuting suspects in accordance with the existing laws.
The letter even went as far as saying that there was no need for any additional testing since prosecutors could still rely on circumstantial evidence as they always have. However, the prosecutors pushed back saying that marijuana is physically identical to hemp, so testing is the only way to be certain that the prosecution has a strong case when charging a suspect.
As prosecutors think about the “law enforcement nightmare” that has been handed to them, those interested in the different aspects of the hemp value chains are celebrating since they now have the green light to undertake their activities without being in a legal grey area.
It would be interesting to hear what hemp industry players like Hemptown USA and Green Hygienics Holdings Inc. (OTCQB: GRYN) would have to say about how the Texas lawmakers would have handled the issue differently.
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