As Gov. Greg Abbott weighs Texas’ proposed THC ban, one industry is working overtime to influence his decision: the alcohol lobby.
Amid plunging alcohol sales, some groups representing liquor stores are opposing the ban as they see THC beverages as an opportunity to draw in more business. Beer distributors, meanwhile, launched an ad campaign in recent weeks to promote the dangers of THC.
“The beer companies would prefer a ban because they’re losing market share to THC drinks,” said Cynthia Cabrera, chief strategy officer with the hemp company Hometown Hero. “Rather than just participate in the market, they would rather do what they’ve done for 100 years and make sure that there is no competition in the beer market.”
Abbott, who is the last hurdle in Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s campaign for a statewide THC ban, is already under a ferocious onslaught of public pressure to veto the bill from veterans’ groups, hemp industry leaders and even some prominent conservative commentators. He has until June 22 to decide.
The alcohol industry wasn’t particularly loud during the committee hearings or other public debate, but has sway at the Capitol and with the governor. Abbott’s campaign treasurer is John Nau, the CEO of Silver Eagle Distributors, one of the nation’s largest beer wholesalers. The company also carries some THC beverages, according to its website. Nau has donated nearly $1.5 million directly to Abbott’s campaign since 2020, according to campaign finance data. John Rydman, the president and an owner of the Houston-based liquor store chain Spec’s, gave the governor $185,000 in that time.
Both the liquor and beer lobbies also give regularly to House and Senate members.
Alcohol distributors have long opposed decriminalization of marijuana, fearing it could siphon off their customer base amid already-declining alcohol consumption trends.
But the arrival of hemp-derived THC beverages in the last year, accounting for a growing portion of sales at liquor stores, has changed the calculus for some.
National surveys show alcohol sales have declined in recent years across multiple categories like beer and spirits. Young adults are also less likely to report consuming alcohol than in prior decades. Meanwhile, cannabis and hemp products are becoming increasingly popular.
“Liquor stores are really viewing this as a growth lever,” said Jake Bullock, CEO of the THC drinks company Cann. “As younger folks, and the whole general population, are reevaluating its alcohol consumption more broadly, liquor stores see that, they understand it.”
For the last year, Cann has sold on shelves at Total Wine & More, which has 39 stores across Texas, and has proved “extraordinarily” popular, Bullock said, outselling some established categories like chardonnay in a recent quarter. Spec’s also added delta-8 infused seltzers to its 250 stores last year.
The Texas Package Stores Association, which represents liquor distributors, recently posted graphics on X advocating against a THC ban and arguing beverages should be sold through their existing regulatory channels.
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Meanwhile, groups including the Wholesale Beer Distributors of Texas launched a “Safer Texas Alliance” project in recent weeks, producing videos and advertisements arguing in favor of a ban.
See here and here for some other reactions to the ban. The Texas Hemp Business Council has collected a lot of petition signatures in favor of a veto, but who knows what Greg Abbott will do. Money talks, of course, but he’s used to bigger numbers than that. I suppose at some level I’m not sure he wants to pick this fight with Dan Patrick. We’ll know in less than three weeks.
As a biologist, I see all this vitriol against cannabis as arbitrary, hypocritical, and yes, racist. If someone wants to persuade me that a certain intoxicant needs to be banned, I need hard pharmacological data on its deleterious effect. The deleterious effects of alcohol are well documented, but society has decided that using it, with various restrictions, is acceptable. It is true that cannabis is not as benign as some have tried to claim, but it’s clear to me that alcohol is the more harmful of the two. Therefore I can’t see any honest rationale for allowing alcohol to be legal, but not cannabis.
Now I am a social drinker; I have never used any cannabis product and expect that I never will. But I see no scientifically valid reason to favor the former and demonize the latter. Many of the evils of pot that moral scolds like Patrick like to invoke are the results of its prohibition. I’d rather see it regulated and taxed the way alcohol is.
hi Charles – Monday talks? or money talks…?
PR – Heh, money talks, not Monday. Fixed now. Thanks for the catch!