Attempts to ban intoxicating hemp products nationwide and in Texas captured the attention of our Cannabis Business Times audience as the most-read storylines in June 2025. At the federal level, the U.S. House Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration advanced a must-pass spending bill on June 5 that included provisions to redefine hemp in a manner to close a “loophole” in the 2018 Farm Bill that has resulted in the proliferation of intoxicating cannabinoid products, such as those that contain delta-8 THC. “As many states have stepped in to curb these dangerous products from reaching consumers, particularly children, it’s time for Congress to act to close this loophole while protecting the legitimate industrial hemp industry,” said Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., the subcommittee’s chairman. On June 23, the full Appropriations Committee voted along party lines, 35-27, to approve the spending bill, including the hemp provisions, sending it to the Rules Committee to be prepared for the House floor. These two articles took the No. 1 and No. 4 spots in CBT’s Top 10 most-read articles this month. An article about Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s deadline for executive action on bills to expand the state’s medical cannabis program and to prohibit intoxicating hemp products took the No. 2 spot, and a follow-up article covering his veto of the hemp ban took the No. 3 spot. “The legal defects in the bill are undeniable,” Abbott wrote in a June 22 veto proclamation. “If I were to allow Senate Bill 3 to become law, its enforcement would be enjoined for years, leaving existing abuse unaddressed. Texas cannot afford to wait.” He leaned his argument on a 2023 preliminary injunction in Arkansas that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit vacated on June 24, two days after Abbott’s veto, pitting the governor against Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who spearheaded S.B. 3. The duo is lined up to spar over whether to ban or regulate hemp during a special session that’s set to begin July 21. Other stories that readers did not want to miss out on this month included Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s push to keep an adult-use legalization proposal in the state budget and South Dakota setting a July 14 date to begin cracking down on noncompliant hemp product sales. Don’t miss out on our Top 10 storiesfrom June 2025. | 