Hemp is booming in Texas. Distinguishing it from marijuana is still a challenge.
In this video, The Texas Tribune dug into hemp and marijuana with lawmakers, crime lab scientists, criminal defense attorneys and hemp entrepreneurs. Full Story
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![A container of dried hemp plant with leaves and stems on Jan. 23, 2020.]()
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CBD, hemp, medical marijuana? Here's what you need to know about Texas' changing pot laws.
Marijuana and hemp are often indistinguishable by look or smell because they both come from the cannabis plant. But hemp is legal, and marijuana is not. Full Story
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![The Custom Botanical Dispensary in Austin on Jan. 16, 2019.]()
Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera for The Texas Tribune -
Austin police chief: We will still ticket, arrest for marijuana
The day after the Austin City Council unanimously approved stopping arrests and tickets for low-level marijuana cases, police Chief Brian Manley said he will continue to enforce such laws. Full Story
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![Austin Police Chief Brian Manley speaks during a news conference near the scene where a woman was injured in a package bomb explosion, in Austin on March 12, 2018.]()
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Austin police will stop arrests, tickets in most low-level marijuana cases after unanimous City Council vote
The decision to back away from pursuing criminal charges against people with small amounts of pot comes after state lawmakers legalized hemp last year in a way that threw marijuana prosecution into chaos. Full Story
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CBD products are everywhere in Texas since the state legalized hemp. Experts warn: buyer beware.
Much of the sudden spike in popularity is thanks to a Texas law last year that legalized hemp, the plant from which CBD is derived. Full Story
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![The Custom Botanical Dispensary in Austin, Texas on Jan. 16, 2019.]()
Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera for The Texas Tribune -
TribCast: Refugee ban, hemp fiasco and another Planned Parenthood fight
On this week’s TribCast, Alexa talks to Matthew, Jolie and Emma about the governor’s decision to opt out of the federal refugee resettlement program, the state’s hemp legalization fiasco and the latest in the Texas vs. Planned Parenthood fight. Full Story
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![The Almohammad family, a refugee family from Syria, arrive at Austin–Bergstrom International Airport late at night on Monday, Feb. 6, 2017.]()
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Austin to consider stopping arrests, tickets in low-level marijuana cases after hemp law
Four progressive members of the City Council are pushing the proposal, which needs two more votes to pass. Full Story
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He spent a month in Texas jail accused of hauling 3,350 pounds of marijuana. But lab results say it was legal hemp.
The man had told a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper that his truck contained hemp, not weed. He was released from detention after a federal crime lab tested the cargo. Full Story
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![The Texas Department of Public Safety claimed last month that it seized more than 3,000 pounds of marijuana during a traffic stop in Carson County. Lab results indicate the load was legal hemp.]()
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Marijuana prosecutions in Texas have dropped by more than half since lawmakers legalized hemp
After Texas legalized hemp and threw marijuana prosecution into chaos last year, prosecutors filed far fewer criminal charges, police departments paid for private testing and public crime labs were struggling to catch up. Full Story
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O'Rourke's plan to legalize marijuana includes clemency for possession sentences and grants for those who already served time
For his latest policy proposal, the Democratic presidential candidate returns to a cause he has championed since his days on the El Paso City Council. Full Story
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![Beto O'Rourke speaks at Texas Southern University in Houston during his Presidential Campaign kick off on March 30, 2019.]()
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Texas DPS officers told not to arrest in low-level marijuana cases after new hemp law
A memo obtained by The Texas Tribune instructs DPS officers to cite and release suspects in misdemeanor marijuana cases "as appropriate." Officials said the goal is to continue enforcement even though some prosecutors aren't taking new pot cases. Full Story
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![State Troopers stop civilian on Congress Ave. in Austin, TX on Feb. 12, 2016.]()
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Tribcast: Beto O'Rourke's debate performance and the drama rocking the Texas House speaker's office
In this edition of the TribCast, Emma talks to Patrick, Matthew, Cassi and Jolie about Beto O’Rourke’s debate performance, the accusations shaking up the Texas House speaker’s office and what Texas lawmakers really knew about how their new hemp bill would impact marijuana prosecutions. Full Story
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![House Speaker Dennis Bonnen adjourns sine die from the dais on May 27, 2019.]()
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Texas was warned its hemp law would complicate marijuana prosecutions. Lawmakers didn't listen.
Crime labs repeatedly told lawmakers and budget officials that they couldn't distinguish between hemp and marijuana without new testing resources. The issue got almost no attention. Full Story
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![Robert Russin a manager at Compassionate Cultivation, a home-grown medical cannabis company serving patients throughout Texas]()
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Analysis: For Texas lawmakers, a ballad of rope and dope
Texas lawmakers made it legal to farm hemp and, incidentally, harder to prosecute people caught with small amounts of marijuana, which is still illegal. Now they're bickering about whether that's the fault of the new law or of local prosecutors. Full Story
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![Industrial hemp plant (Cannabis sativa).]()
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How can Texas fix its marijuana problem after legalizing hemp? Forensic experts have a plan.
Prosecutors and crime lab scientists were scrambling to find a solution after a change in the state's definition of marijuana imperiled criminal cases. Full Story
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Texas leaders: Hemp law did not decriminalize marijuana
A law legalizing hemp changed the definition of marijuana, causing district attorneys across the state to drop low-level possession cases and stop accepting new ones. Full Story
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Hemp law has most big-city prosecutors in Texas stepping back from marijuana charges. But not in El Paso.
Many prosecutors say the way Gov. Greg Abbott and lawmakers redefined marijuana requires new lab testing to prove it’s different from recently legalized hemp. The situation has created a patchwork of consequences for people caught with pot. Full Story
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This year, Texas passed a law legalizing hemp. It also has prosecutors dropping hundreds of marijuana cases.
The new law changed the definition of marijuana, and prosecutors and crime labs say they don't have the resources to test if a substance is legal hemp or marijuana. Full Story
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![Plants of marijuana names after Sen. Kevin Eltife who authored a bil in 2015l which would legalize oils containing cannabidiol found in marijuana known to treat epilepsy and other chronic medical conditions at Compassionate Cultivation, a home-grown medical cannabis company in Austin, Texas that serves patients throughout Texas on January 19, 2017]()
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Many marijuana and pro-LGBTQ bills died this legislative session. Expect to see them back in 2021.
While lawmakers in the 86th Texas Legislature advanced measures on some controversial issues, they know it often takes several sessions to pass bills and say they intend to refile them next time. Full Story
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The Texas Republican Party platform supports some marijuana expansions. So why doesn’t Dan Patrick?
Earlier this month, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said a bill that decriminalizes possession of small amounts of marijuana was "dead on arrival" in the Senate. But his party's platform supports marijuana decriminalization. So what gives? Full Story
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![The Texas Republican Convention at the Henry B. Gonzales Convention Center in San Antonio. Bob Parks salutes the flag from the front row on June 14, 2018.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune