“Some rural Texans see THC as a lifeline for their health and economy” was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.

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MIDWAY — Some who live in Texas’ small towns say that if someone looks close enough, they will see why hemp-derived THC has taken root in rural regions.

Faded crosses on the side of the road and faces of once-promising teens on “Don’t drink and drive” and fentanyl overdose billboards reveal the scars left behind in the isolated parts of Texas, where tight-knit communities have been permanently changed.

Anti-drug hardliners can argue rural Texas’ struggle with substance abuse is why THC has proliferated there and why it needs to be banned, but many cannabis users in the state’s small communities say it has spared them from spiraling further into the destruction of alcoholism and drug addiction.

“I spent over 10 years in the fire service, and I can tell you have seen more fatality and messed up accidents because of alcohol than any other drug,” said Timothy Mabry, a hemp proponent from Canyon Lake. “Also, the difference between someone who is violently drunk and someone who is happily high is drastic. And many of us here have seen it firsthand.”

Hemp supporters say a ban on THC, which lawmakers are mulling, would be catastrophic to rural Texas.

The lack of access to the Texas Compassionate Use Program, the state’s tightly regulated medical marijuana program, and other traditional forms of medical care in those communities has steered users — even those who qualify for prescription drugs — toward consumable hemp products. This has unfolded as rural areas are home to some of the state’s sickest and oldest populations, many of whom are looking for relief from mental illness or chronic pain and find an antidote in cannabis use.

Amid growing addiction problems that hit rural communities harder than their urban peers, some have used hemp products to wean off alcohol or opioids, and farmers and small-town retailers are eager to meet those needs in hopes of boosting their downtown economies.

“My family lives in Belleville in Austin County, a big farm community with maybe 4,000 people total. That little town has maybe 30 storefronts, and three of them are hemp CBD shops. It’s a big part of the economy in these rural areas,” Andy “Doc” Melder, a Navy veteran and founder of Warriors Integrating Possibilities, a group aimed at ending veteran suicide and the opioid epidemic, especially in rural Texas.

On Wednesday, the Texas Senate passed Senate Bill 5 by Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, which would criminalize products containing any “detectable amount of any cannabinoid” other than cannabidiol and cannabigerol, better known as CBD and CBG, non-intoxicating components of cannabis. This bill would eliminate the majority of hemp products, including those that are legal under the federal definition.

Hemp opponents have given various reasons for a ban, saying the industry is unregulated, caters to children, and that the long-term health effects of cannabis use are still unknown.

The effort by Republican lawmakers who support a ban has spurred blowback from their usual ardent political allies: rural Texans, from farmers to veterans, and the older generation.

Limited access to medical marijuana

Texas has one of the largest rural populations in the country, with about 5 million of its approximately 31 million people living in rural areas. The health outcomes of Texans who live in these regions are significantly worse than their urban peers, partly due to the lack of physical and mental care access.

The inability to find help has driven some people to seek relief elsewhere.

“The funny thing is, my parents sent me to rehab when I was 15 for my cannabis use, and they hated the thought of it. Now they are using cannabis themselves for pain relief,” Melder said.

Some lawmakers have insisted the Texas Compassionate Use Program is the best route for cannabis users with mental illness and chronic pain. However, those who live in rural parts of the state don’t have access to those dispensaries, and if they do, products are expensive and limited.

“We don’t have additional options,” said Ramona Harding, a Navy veteran who lives on a 10-acre farm in Midway.

Currently, the state has two medical marijuana dispensaries, both of which are based in Central Texas, and a third one that has been deactivated, according to lawmakers. Because state law requires those dispensaries to drive products they sell in other parts of Texas back to a designated storage site every day, overhead costs are high, which has contributed to the expensive medical marijuana products.

A $15 bag of hemp-derived THC gummies purchased online could be more effective than a $75 bag of medical marijuana gummies, hemp supporters have said.

Many rural Texans also don’t have insurance to pay for the doctor’s visits required to sign up for the program and medical marijuana usually isn’t a covered benefit under most plans. The costs to participate start to add up, Mabry said.

“There is only a select number of doctors who can do it, so you have to travel, and anytime something touches a doctor’s hand, it costs more,” he said.

Legislation passed earlier this year expanded the medical marijuana program by increasing the number of dispensaries and satellite locations while offering more types of products to users and removing the storage restriction. Medical marijuana producers say the law will help drop prices and increase accessibility but that it could take a few years to happen, including in rural Texas.

Even when the dispensaries expand, some families are unsure if it will still meet their complicated needs.

When Piper Lindeen’s son Zach became the second child to be accepted into the state’s medical marijuana program, she felt pride. After fighting for several years, she and her husband finally had legal access to medical cannabis products that could slow down their son’s severe seizures.

At least that’s what they thought.

Although the Lindeens remain in the program to support it, Zach doesn’t use medical marijuana because some of the chemicals removed from it under state regulations are needed to stop their son’s seizures. They order hemp products from Oregon, which could become illegal if lawmakers approve a ban.

“There is no hope to control his seizures, and we tried,” the Sugar Land resident said of the medical marijuana program.

Combating alcohol and opioid addiction

In June, the Texans for Safe and Drug-Free Youth, the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Council of Deep East Texas, the Andrea’s Project in Amarillo, the Sheriffs Association of Texas, along with other anti-drug groups, sent a letter to Gov. Greg Abbott asking him to ban THC due to concern for children and the risk of impaired driving increasing.

Perry has said multiple times that cannabis might be responsible for veteran suicide, not preventing it, and has questioned the medical benefits since studies he has seen show long-term use causes dementia.

With all those risks and the lack of resources in rural communities to address them, some rural lawmakers like Perry fear THC could wreak havoc in the neighborhoods they represent.

Research has yet to definitively show what long-term impacts of THC use in a community can be, but rural users said they envision safer environments free from more dangerous addictions like alcoholism and opioid abuse.

“I know so many people who have used [hemp-derived THC] to get off tobacco, alcohol, or other pills… and I think that is one of the biggest things it could be used for,” Harding said.

All 177 rural counties in Texas are federally designated Health Professional Shortage Areas for Mental Health, meaning there are not a lot of addiction treatment options in these regions.

A 2022 study by UT Health San Antonio’s substance use disorder response program, Be Well Texas, found that more opioid prescriptions are dispensed to rural Texas residents per capita than to urban residents, contributing to increasing overdose rates and illegal drug markets.

For Harding, cannabis is how she can function each day, as she bears the physical and mental scars from a rape she endured while in service. If cannabis is taken away, she said her only other options are either the pills that were killing her liver slowly or alcohol, which killed her mother, father and brother.

“I have run into so many people and lawmakers who are like, ‘Well, go have some whiskey’. No. It killed my family, and it almost killed me. Alcohol isn’t the answer for everyone in Texas,” she said

The economic costs of a ban

While there isn’t specific data on how many THC shops have opened in the rural parts of the state, a 2025 report by Whitney Economics, which studies data and does economic reports on global hemp and cannabis industries, found the number of physical locations had increased from 5,072 in 2022 to 7,550 in 2024 and was steadily growing all around Texas.

Hemp-related licenses have increased steadily since 2022 for both retailers and manufacturers, the latter of which are usually located in the rural parts of the state. The $5.5 billion industry is estimated to employ more than 53,000 workers, receiving $2.1 billion in wages.

Rural Texas farmers told The Texas Tribune earlier this year that banning THC would mean they would have to stop growing hemp altogether, even if it’s not going to be consumed, because there’s no way to have or manufacture this plant with no detectable THC in it.

Whitney Economics estimated a complete THC ban would shift $10.2 billion in economic activity out of the state, and it would disrupt the hemp supply chain throughout the United States.

“The worst part is if this ban goes through, it’s going to send thousands of farmers, workers, retailers, and more around here and all over the state, belly-up, and for what? No reason,” said Mabry.

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This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2025/08/01/texas-rural-thc-hemp-cannabis-marijuana/.

The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.

The post Rural Texas uses THC for health and economy appeared first on feeds.texastribune.org

Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.

Political Bias Rating: Center-Left

This article largely highlights the struggles of rural Texans with substance abuse and limited medical options, emphasizing empathy for cannabis users and advocating for their access to hemp-derived THC products. It critiques restrictive legislation supported by conservative lawmakers and stresses the potential harm a ban could cause both economically and socially. The presentation leans toward supporting cannabis use as a harm reduction tool and addresses public health needs, reflecting a perspective more aligned with center-left viewpoints that favor drug policy reform and expanded healthcare access.

SUMMARY: Texas wide receiver DeAndre Moore compares quarterbacks Quinn Ewers and Arch Manning, saying the main difference is speed—calling one “baby wheels” and the other “super wheels.” Moore, a junior who caught 39 passes for 456 yards and seven touchdowns last season, will see an expanded role and appreciates Arch Manning’s faster, zip-style passes. Now a leader among Longhorns receivers, Moore learned leadership from past teammates and is still developing his style. He aims high, targeting Texas touchdown records, over 1,200 yards, the Biletnikoff Award, and contributing as a punt returner—ready to build on last season’s foundation.

Read the full article

The post Longhorns receiver lets everyone know the difference between Arch Manning, Quinn Ewers appeared first on www.kxan.com

“Former Sid Miller allies told police the ag commissioner feared the DEA, told a friend to get rid of marijuana” was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.

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A former friend of Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller told a Texas Ranger that in 2022 Miller asked him to dispose of three bags of marijuana cigarettes and gummies because he was afraid that the Drug Enforcement Administration might find them on his property.

At the time, the friend, Michael Hackney, was living in a motorhome on Miller’s Stephenville ranch, where Miller was licensed to grow hemp.

“I’ve got to get rid of this. I’ve had it at the house, and if the DEA comes, I can’t get caught with this stuff,” Miller said, according to Hackney. “He says, ‘You do with it whatever you want. Get rid of it. But don’t leave it here.’”

Hackney added, “He was really, really nervous about that deal.”

The Texas Tribune obtained a recording of the Texas Ranger’s July 2024 interview with Hackney through an open records request to the Texas Department of Public Safety, but has not been able to confirm whether Miller was — or has ever been — under investigation by the DEA or any other law enforcement agency. He has not been charged with a crime, and a Department of Public Safety spokesperson said Miller is not under active investigation by state police. A DEA spokesperson said the federal agency could not comment on any ongoing or past investigations unless they are fully adjudicated in the courts.

In an interview with the Tribune, Miller flatly denied the accusations.

“If I had marijuana cigarettes and gummies and I thought the DEA was going to investigate me, I damn sure wouldn’t have given them to anybody else to get rid of. I’d have just gotten rid of them myself,” he said. “I would never do that and it didn’t happen.”

Law enforcement records reviewed by the Tribune show Miller entangled in a morass of accusations related to his hemp farming operation made by former associates. The records were from two separate state investigations, neither of which targeted Miller. One investigation was into bribery accusations against a top Miller aide. The second was in response to an accusation of illegal coercion that Miller made against one of his own high-ranking Texas Departure of Agriculture employees. Miller accused the employee of trying to blackmail him with threats of explicit photos.

Miller dismissed the accusations made to law enforcement as lies from a disgruntled former employee and former friend. He said DPS has never reached out to question him about the claims.

Recorded interviews conducted during both investigations revealed people close to Miller believed his hemp farm was under scrutiny by the DEA.

That included Freddy Vest, a former agriculture department director who oversaw the hemp licensing program and who Miller accused of blackmail. DPS investigated the claim but did not charge Vest with a crime.

During that investigation, Vest told officers in June of this year that a colleague had informed him three or four years ago that the DEA had contacted the agency asking for information about Miller’s hemp farm.

When Vest relayed the information to Miller in early 2022, he said Miller grew angry.

“I said, ‘Sid, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I told you I’d never lie to you, and I never hold anything back from you. … I’ve heard that there’s been a DEA agent that is inquiring on your hemp program,’” Vest recounted to the officers.

“[Miller] said, ‘What’s a DEA?’ I said, ‘Drug Enforcement Agency.’ And so he went back home. He got mad at me for telling him or that I knew about it,” Vest added to the officers.

Miller confirmed Vest told him the DEA was looking into his hemp operation, but said he was wrong.

“Freddy is a damn drama queen. He’s full of it,” Miller told the Tribune. “I checked out his story and it didn’t check out. It never happened. I never, ever talked to the DEA. They never stepped foot on my place.”

Miller, a Republican in his third-term in the state elected office, was registered to grow hemp in Texas between 2020 and 2023 — under a license granted by his own office. He was one of the hundreds of people who applied for that opportunity after state lawmakers legalized growing parts of the cannabis plant in 2019 as long as it did not contain more than .3% of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC.

Miller planted 10 hemp crops at his Stephenville tree nursery through 2022, including varieties called Sweet Wife, China Blossom and ACDC, records show.

State lawmakers in May voted to ban the sale of substances containing consumable THC in Texas citing concern that they are dangerous to people’s health. At first, Miller opposed that ban, arguing it would be harmful to Texas farmers, though he ultimately supported it.

Gov. Greg Abbott vetoed the ban in June, calling for a focus on regulation. Lawmakers returned to Austin on July 21 to once again tackle that issue, among others.

Scrutiny over hemp licenses  

When Hackney spoke to the Texas Ranger about Miller’s hemp business, the Ranger was investigating Miller’s close political consultant Todd Smith.

Smith was arrested in May 2021 for soliciting up to $150,000 to guarantee prospective growers supposedly exclusive hemp licenses from Miller’s office. Licenses to grow hemp are unlimited in Texas and cost $100. After the indictment, Miller told reporters that he parted ways with Smith following his arrest. He later said the investigation was politically motivated and that Smith did nothing wrong. Miller has denied involvement and was not implicated in the case.

Smith pled guilty to commercial bribery in 2024, a few weeks before his jury trial was scheduled to begin and about a week after Miller was subpoenaed to testify. Smith agreed to two years of deferred adjudication, meaning he would have to follow terms of probation but then could have his charges dismissed. A few months after Smith pleaded guilty, Miller hired Smith as chief of staff of the Texas Department of Agriculture. Smith did not respond to request for comment.

Hackney’s interview with the Texas Ranger, in which he described Miller asking him to get rid of the marijuana, is embedded in Smith’s 180-page investigative file from DPS.

“Sid shows up at my motor home and has three bags of product and by product, I mean, marijuana cigarettes that were in little cigar wrapping, gummies and so forth,” Hackney said in the interview.

Hackney responded, “What in the world is this?” he told the Ranger. But he did what Miller asked, he said.

Hackney’s motorhome had been parked on Miller’s property in Stephenville for about five years at the time to help manage his horse and cattle operation, he told the Ranger. Hackney, a former calf roper, got close to Miller traveling around the country and showing horses with him. He said two had a falling out in 2023 which resulted in Hackney moving off Miller’s property. Miller said he asked Hackney to leave his property because “he wore out his welcome.”

In the interview, Hackney told the Ranger he witnessed Miller tell an employee at his nursery to make sure if they had anything illegal on the property to get rid of it. And once at Miller’s house, he said he saw Miller smoke marijauna.

Miller said he told his employees to only grow legal hemp on the property.

Reached by the Tribune, Hackney said he stood by his statements to DPS, but stressed that he only came forward because he was asked by the Rangers to interview about Miller’s relationship to Smith. He was told by DPS that his statements would be confidential.

“I did not want to hurt Sid and especially his family in any way, but I did answer my questions to the best I could with the knowledge I had,” Hackney told the Tribune.

It’s unclear whether any investigators took any further action in response to Hackney’s claims. Asked about them, the DPS spokesperson initially said Hackney’s interview was included in a report that was submitted to the Travis County District Attorney’s office, and directed further questions to that office.

A spokesperson for the Travis County DA’s office said they do not have a record of receiving a copy of Hackney’s interview. Hours before publication, DPS sent an additional statement saying it did not send Hackney’s interview to the the district attorney’s office after it was determined that it “had no investigative value” to the Smith case.

A second investigation

Nearly a year after Hackney was interviewed by the Rangers, Vest, the employee fired by Miller after 10 years at the agency, got a knock on his door from two DPS agents asking to talk to him about his recent termination from the agriculture department.

In the interview, Vest said a former assistant commissioner, Walt Roberts, once told him that he accompanied Miller to a shop in Bastrop where Miller dropped off multiple garbage bags of his harvested hemp in exchange for two large garbage bags of black tubes with individually rolled joints inside.

“[Roberts] said [Miller] took his hemp down there, and what this guy was doing was spraying it with synthetic THC, turning it back into marijuana,” Vest told law enforcement.

Miller denied to Roberts he was doing anything illegal and remarked that “there’s some college kids that’d like to have this,” Vest told officers.

Roberts confirmed Vest’s account to the Tribune, adding that he felt uncomfortable being present for the exchange. He declined to answer further questions. Roberts was hired by Miller when he first took state office. Roberts has publicly disclosed he pleaded guilty for a federal felony and misdemeanor for his role in a campaign finance conspiracy in Oklahoma in 2003.

Miller denied he ever sold or exchanged his hemp in Bastrop.

Vest was interviewed after Miller reported him to DPS and accused him of threatening to expose intimate pictures involving Miller if he didn’t fire certain employees at the agency, according to a written request from Miller’s office for DPS to investigate the incident.

In a recording of that DPS interview, Vest told the officers Hackney had photos of Miller that could be incriminating.

The Tribune reviewed copies of both photos. One photo was of Miller laying next to a blonde woman on a bed smiling. Miller told the Tribune that it was a sick woman lying in a hospital bed who he took a selfie with. The other photo was a screen shot of what appeared to be Miller’s own Facebook story post of a woman naked on a bed, but only her backside is visible. Vest told police this woman was Miller’s wife. Miller told the Tribune he was unaware of this photo. Miller’s wife did not respond to a request for comment.

Vest told Miller about the photos in May, but didn’t tell him who had them, despite Miller’s repeated requests for more information, according to a recording of their conversation that Miller secretly recorded and sent to DPS.

When Miller fired Vest and reported him to DPS, he submitted his audio recording and a transcript of the conversation as evidence. The Tribune obtained copies via an open records request.

When Vest tells Miller about the photos, Miller asks where the photo came from and tries to guess who has copies of the photos, according to the recording shared with DPS.

In that recording of Miller and Vest’s conversation, Vest said that he had known about the photos for a while, but had previously convinced the person not to publicize them. But the person was more recently considering making them public and wanted Miller to fire Smith and another agency head.

Hackney told the Tribune that he never intended to release the photos.

Vest insisted in his DPS interview that neither he nor Hackney ever directly threatened Miller. He had tried, he said, to get Miller away from Smith for years.

“I didn’t show these [photos] to anyone to extort anything out of Sid or anything,” Vest told the officers. “And since I was terminated, I haven’t. It’s not a vendetta for me against Sid Miller.” Vest declined an interview with the Tribune.

The agents said in the interview with Vest that there was no evidence that Vest tried to blackmail Miller and closed the case. Vest was never charged with a crime. Miller told the Tribune he is still considering further legal action.

Political storms

Miller is gearing up to run for reelection for a fourth term next year. So far, he’s garnered at least one primary challenger: Nate Sheets, founder of Nature Nate’s Honey Company.

Miller previously served in the Texas state House from 2001 to 2013. Since he was first elected agriculture commissioner in 2014, he’s repeatedly weathered political controversies and criticism.

Miller has frequently faced backlash for posting misleading and false information on his political social media pages.

In 2016, Miller came under fire for using state funds to travel to Oklahoma to receive what he called a “Jesus shot,” an injection that a doctor in Oklahoma City claimed could take away all pain for life.

Miller later reimbursed the state for the trip and Travis County prosecutors did not pursue charges.

In 2017, the Texas Ethics Commission fined Miller $2,750 for sloppy campaign accounting. The next year, the ethics commission fined Miller $500 for using state funds to travel to a rodeo in Mississippi after an investigation found the primary purpose of the trip to Jackson was personal.

Kate McGee is continuing to report on issues related to the Texas Department of Agriculture. If you have a tip reach out at mcgee@texastribune.org.

The lineup for The Texas Tribune Festival continues to grow! Be there when all-star leaders, innovators and newsmakers take the stage in downtown Austin, Nov. 13–15. The newest additions include comedian, actor and writer John Mulaney; Dallas mayor Eric Johnson; U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota; New York Media Editor-at-Large Kara Swisher; and U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-El Paso. Get your tickets today!

TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase.

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2025/07/31/sid-miller-hemp-dea-texas-marijuana-gummies/.

The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.

The post Former Sid Miller allies told police the ag commissioner feared the DEA, told a friend to get rid of marijuana appeared first on feeds.texastribune.org

Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.

Political Bias Rating: Centrist

The article presents a factual, investigative report on allegations involving Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller without adopting an overt ideological stance. It details accusations from multiple sources, Miller’s denials, and related investigations, maintaining a neutral tone throughout. The coverage includes balanced perspectives and official statements, focusing on documented events and law enforcement records rather than editorializing. While the subject is a Republican politician with a history of controversy, the article refrains from partisan framing and simply reports the facts, consistent with The Texas Tribune’s nonpartisan editorial approach.