Texas officials have adopted a series of new rules for the state’s hemp market—with certain revisions that advocates and stakeholders call a “direct victory,” including changes to make participation in the industry more affordable, and other regulations that threaten to severely restrict product availability.

The Department of State Health Services (DSHS) unveiled the amended hemp rules on Friday, about two months after publishing proposed regulations with licensing fees and other changes that led organizations such as the Texas Cannabis Policy Center (TCPC) to sound the alarm.

In response, the department received more than 1,400 comments urging revisions.

“Revised rules have slashed manufacturer fees from $25,000 to $10,000 and retailer fees from $20,000 to $5,000. This is a direct victory for advocacy,” Heather Fazio, director of TCPC, said in an email to supporters on Monday. “However, significant challenges remain.”

Specifically, the agency decided to maintain language requiring hemp products to be tested for “total THC” content, including THCA, which means most cannabis flower would be considered non-compliant with limitations imposed under state law.

“We estimate this will hand 50 percent of the legal market to illicit operators, making our state less safe,” Fazio said.

TCPC and other groups such as the Texas Hemp Business Council (THBC) have also pointed out that there would be additional requirements imposed on hemp businesses with respect to product testing, labeling and record-keeping.

Separately, under a proposed rule from the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) there would also be a “less consequential, but important” update to the hemp program, Fazio said, with the agency seeking to prohibit the on-site consumption of hemp at businesses where alcohol isn’t allowed. There would be no “sampling” exceptions in place, either.

(Disclosure: Fazio supports Marijuana Moment’s work with a monthly Patreon pledge.)

TCPC did share a piece of positive news for advocates, noting “steady progress” in expanding the state’s medical cannabis program under a law enacted last year. While adult-use legalization has continued to stall in the conservative legislature, the medical marijuana program is significantly expanding, with nine new licenses already approved and three more expected before April 1.

Meanwhile, last week, Texas voters approved a marijuana legalization question that appeared on the state’s Democratic primary ballot.

As part of the primary election on Tuesday, each major party was able to place several non-binding propositions on the ballot that allow voters show how they feel on key issues. The Texas Democratic Party used one of its propositions to find out where the electorate stands on legalizing cannabis and whether past convictions should be expunged.

For what it’s worth, a statewide poll released last month found that Texas voters don’t like how state leaders and lawmakers have handled marijuana and THC policy issues. In the survey, a plurality of voters (40 percent) said they disapprove of how their elected officials have approached the issue, according to the survey. Just 29 percent said they approve of how cannabis issues have been handled, while 31 percent said they didn’t have an opinion one way or another.

A separate poll released last year found that a plurality of Texas voters want the state’s marijuana laws to be made “less strict.” And among the legislative items lawmakers considered during recent special sessions, voters say a proposal to address hemp regulations was among the least important.

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For its part, the state Department of Public Safety in October adopted additional rules to increase the number of licensed dispensaries, establishing security requirements for “satellite” locations and authorizing the revocation of licenses for certain violations.

DSHS also recently finalized rules allowing doctors to recommend new qualifying conditions for cannabis patients and creating standards for allowable low-THC inhalation devices.

Meanwhile, bipartisan Texas lawmakers say the stage is set to advance legislation next session establishing regulations for hemp THC products, with growing understanding among their colleagues that prohibition fails to effectively address concerns about the cannabis market.

The brothers of the late Jeffrey Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre joined demonstrators outside Epstein’s former ranch in New Mexico on Sunday to demand more transparency. 

The protest, pegged to International Women’s Day, was attended by what the Santa Fe New Mexican estimated to be hundreds of demonstrators, including activists and lawmakers, outside the estate formerly known as Zorro Ranch.

Sky Roberts said it was the first time he had visited the ranch, and demonstrators’ presence was important as a show of “force” that they’re not “going away,” as some people, including the president, try to direct attention away from the Epstein scandal. During his remarks, he rebuked the government for what he called a cover-up and demanded the Justice Department release documents that show who visited the ranch, among other things.

“All those names are in the files, and right now the government is covering those up,” he said, according to Reuters.

Epstein reportedly talked about using the ranch (now owned by Don Huffines, the GOP candidate for Texas state comptroller) for a eugenics-inspired plan to impregnate several women to “seed” the human race with his DNA (there’s no evidence he carried out such a plan). Giuffre’s posthumously released memoir includes allegations about meeting politicians and CEOs at Zorro Ranch, which was also recently linked to an unverified claim in the Epstein files alleging the deceased sex criminal had the bodies of two women buried near the property. After that allegation surfaced among the recently released Epstein files, New Mexico’s state legislature formed a truth commission to investigate Epstein’s activities at the ranch; the state DOJ has opened a probe of its own.