Some interesting stuff here, and a reminder that some things are eternal.
Colton Luther, a 29-year-old from Houston who hosts the cannabis podcast “Puff and Prosper,” isn’t your typical Austin lobbyist.
But in July, Luther sat across from Gov. Greg Abbott, pitching ideas for how the Republican might regulate the state’s booming hemp industry.
“He came to us with straight shooter questions on the true infrastructure of the industry,” Luther recalled. “We were able to tell him every single facet on how this gets regulated correctly.”
Luther is a part of an influential circle of hemp business leaders who say they helped push Abbott to veto a proposed ban on THC championed by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and shaped his eventual executive order stepping up regulation of their products.
The group, a mix of industry insiders and newcomers, held behind-the-scenes meetings with Abbott and commissioned several influential polls, including one by Donald Trump’s own pollster, that showed the ban’s unpopularity with GOP voters. At least one member also doled out hefty campaign contributions to the governor and House Speaker Dustin Burrows.
The coordinated activities, reported for the first time by Hearst Newspapers, formed a key part of the broader hemp movement that emerged this year and illustrate how politically influential the nascent industry has become in Texas. Their strategy focused on free enterprise principles and support for veterans, pushing back against hemp’s image as a partisan or liberal issue in a Republican-controlled state.
“I’ve worked on this issue for more than ten years and it’s been a constant struggle among the cannabros, the business types, and the scientists,” said Susan Hays, a lawyer and political strategist. “This year, the industry finally started getting some footing in the legislative process.”
When Patrick, who presides over the state Senate, made it a priority this spring to ban all hemp THC, the industry’s response was somewhat disjointed. Some pushed exceptions only for THC drinks, others wanted to allow only Texas-grown products.
But in May, when the Texas House passed an all-out ban instead of less stifling regulations, the pressure campaign on Abbott kicked into high gear.
[…]
A week after the veto, an entity tied to Charles’ company Mood, called Management and Governance Consulting, LLC, gave Abbott’s campaign a $100,000 contribution, and in August, another linked entity called Smoking Leaf Holdings shelled out $50,000 to Burrow’s campaign. Charles could not be reached for comment.
Death, taxes, Greg Abbott cashes in, same as it ever was. At this point all I want to say is that I hope these hemp activists, from the cash-dripping lobbyists to the everyday grassroots folks, remember that Dan Patrick wanted to kill them all, and that they should work to defeat him next year, including in the general election. If that high a percentage of Republican voters are truly opposed to banning THC and cannabis, then surely a decent number of them could be persuaded to vote Democratic in that race. Even not voting, or voting Libertarian, would be a step in the right direction. You can do this, hemp activists! You have the power.
Seems like the better title here would be, “How the Hemp Industry Bribed Abbott.”