Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas vetoed a bill late Sunday that would have created one of the nation’s strictest bans on the sale of intoxicants made from hemp, maintaining the state’s fast-growing market for the products at least for now.
The ban bill was pushed through the Legislature last month by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a hard-line conservative, and was fiercely resisted by consumers and by the growing number of businesses across Texas that sell gummies, joints, drinks and other products derived from hemp.
The law would have made it a crime in Texas to possess or sell consumable hemp products with a detectable amount of THC, the psychoactive chemical produced naturally by the cannabis plant. Texas does not allow the recreational use of marijuana, as hemp with a high THC content is known, though the state has a limited medical marijuana program.
Mr. Abbott waited until the final minutes before the ban would have automatically become law to issue his veto.
In a statement issued along with the veto, he said the hemp ban would have been challenged immediately in the courts. He directed lawmakers to return to the State Capitol next month to take up the issue of regulating the industry instead of banning it.
“Texas must strongly regulate hemp, and it must do so immediately,” Mr. Abbott said in his statement.
The veto put the governor at odds with Mr. Patrick, who wields considerable power in the state. Mr. Patrick said in a statement that the “late-night veto” by Mr. Abbott left Republicans in the legislature — who strongly backed the ban — and law enforcement officials who supported it “feeling abandoned” by the governor.
The back-and-forth among state officials in Texas reflected the evolving national debate over products with THC that are derived from hemp. Such products became popular after the passage of the federal 2018 farm bill, which was spearheaded by Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, and signed by President Trump in his first term.
That law allows cannabis plants to be grown legally if they have less than 0.3 percent Delta-9 THC — a level thought to be below that which would usually induce a high. But since that legislation was passed, products have been developed from hemp that can deliver a high when consumed, in some cases by pushing the limits of the law. In Texas, sales of hemp intoxicants have reached more than $4 billion a year, according to industry experts.
Some business owners and industry experts in Texas cheered the governor’s veto.
The Texas Hemp Business Council, which opposed the ban, said Mr. Abbott had chosen “balance over overreach” and had “protected a vibrant, federally legal hemp industry.” The group called for some limited regulations, including a minimum age of 21 to purchase hemp intoxicants. (Currently there are no age restrictions on purchases.)
The issue has cut across partisan lines, with several Democratic-led states taking steps to curtail the market for hemp intoxicants. In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, imposed a temporary emergency ban last year on the sale of hemp-derived intoxicants and has moved to make the ban permanent, suggesting the products could harm minors. In Washington State, only cannabis dispensaries can sell the products. Both states have legal markets for recreational marijuana, which has seen competition from hemp intoxicants.
A bill strictly limiting sales of hemp consumables passed the Republican-controlled Florida Legislature last year, only be vetoed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, who suggested that regulation would be a better approach than a ban.
In Illinois, Democrats have been divided by the issue. Gov. JB Pritzker, a Democrat, has pushed for stronger hemp regulation, but has been blocked by Democratic lawmakers.
The Texas Legislature considered regulating the products, but Mr. Patrick, a Republican who leads the Texas Senate, felt strongly that they should be banned outright. He helped shepherd the bill in the final days of the legislative session.
For several weeks, Mr. Abbott said nothing about whether he would sign or veto the measure, known as Senate Bill 3.
Lobbyists and supporters of the fast-growing industry bombarded the governor with messages urging a veto, arguing that a ban would take away products that have helped many Texans, including military veterans, to manage chronic pain, post-traumatic stress and other ailments.
Mr. Patrick countered that the products were akin to drugs and that the thousands of shops that have appeared across the state to sell them were targeting children, in many cases opening up not far from schools.
In the end, Mr. Abbott chose to send lawmakers back to try again.
The governor signed more than 600 other bills into law over the past few days, including one that mandates the display of the Ten Commandments in public schools across the state.
A similar law in Louisiana was found to be unconstitutional last week by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. That court’s jurisdiction also covers Texas.
J. David Goodman is the Houston bureau chief for The Times, reporting on Texas and Oklahoma.
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