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.
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Zach Lindeen pets Ruger, one of Romana Harding’s dogs, as he
listens to his mom, Piper Lindeen, speak about how cannabis quiets
Zach’s seizures.
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 still participate in the program, Zach needs to supplement it with other CBD because some of the chemicals removed
the medical marijuana 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.
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Amy Harper and Romana Harding embrace during an interview on Tuesday, July 29, 2025, outside of Midway
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
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Rural Texas farmers told The Texas Tribune earlier this year that
banning THC would mean they would have to stop growing hemp altogether.
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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