Bayou City Hemp Co. is Situated for a Fabulous Future

As we enter what could be a protracted period of hostility between the “marijuana” and hemp blocs of the cannabis industry, with federal and state governments offering a witches brew of so-called solutions to fix or close loopholes created by the last farm bill – and the farm bill itself being reworked by congress with the help of lobbyists – it is all but impossible to know how things will pan out, and who will be the ultimate winners and losers. But some companies are working beneath the sturm und drang of the moment to hopefully meet the current demands of the consumer while simultaneously constructing the market of the future.

Houstin, Texas-based Bayou City Hemp Co., one such company, has quietly created a vertical business that produces hemp-based beverages and gummies with the very real potential to help stop the scourge of alcohol abuse. And while Bayou City is certainly not alone in that effort, it has distinguished itself as a player in the space even as it has pivoted its business model to meet the demands of the market. As explained by co-founder and CEO Ben Meggs during a recent call with Cannabis Business Executive, Bayou City’s unique pedigree and vertical positioning gives it a very specific potential and trajectory for growth while maintaining margins, making it a rare and extremely valuable target for some very large suitors when the time is right.

“Jeromy Sherman, my co-founder, and I and our executive team mostly come from oil and gas,” said Meggs of Bayou City’s origins. “We left the oil and gas industry and started this right as the farm bill passed in 2018. We raised capital, we build infrastructure, and we built an NSF/GMP-certified hemp manufacturing facility in Houston. We were fully up and running and operational in the summer of 2020, and from there, we hired a couple of PhD chemists who had done their doctorate work in nanoparticles. We knew we wanted to mix oil and water and we wanted to do beverage products early on, and so we started dabbling in that. In 2021, we were introduced to 8th Wonder Brewery through a local mutual friend, and they also wanted to make a canned beverage, so we had the entire infrastructure of the cannabis side or the hemp side of market.

“We do everything in Bayou City except grow hemp,” he added. “We extract, we distill, we do all the chromatography, and we have our own proprietary nanoemulsion and in-house testing. So, when [8th Wonder] came and did the beverage with us, it worked really well. I mean, it took off. We didn’t have canning capabilities, so was also a great opportunity for us to test it out in the market. Wonder Water, which rolled out in 2021, was the first brand that came out under 8th Wonder, and it immediately became their number-one seller both to-go and in the tap room, so we knew then that we had something, and then we rolled out a couple of brands on our side.”

Bayou City did not begin life as a producer of finished branded products, however. “We were originally an ingredient manufacturer, and then we shifted to finish goods,” said Meggs. “We had done a lot of contract manufacturing for different gummy and beverage companies, and at the same time we created our own brands, HOWDY and Beach Break. After those really started to sell, we began to focus on our own brands. At that same time, the beverage market started taking off, and we only owned the cannabis side, but we wanted to control the entire vertical, the entire supply chain, so we acquired 8th Wonder and closed on that in May of 2023, a year ago almost to the day.

“That gave us full capabilities from start to finish outside of growing hemp,” he added, “but it also gave us distribution, a trusted brand, it gave us hospitality – and of course diversification with the alcohol side of it. After we closed, we refreshed all of our brands, so now we have Howdy, Beach Break, and 8th Wonder – which is Lil Bit and Wonder Water – and of course we have the spirit, Ocho Verde. And we ceased all contract manufacturing. Now we just focus on our own brands, we’re distributed through Silver Eagle and Dynamo in Texas, and we have AB InBev and distributors in several other states, mostly in the southeast.”

Biomass hemp is sourced from two non-local farms. “We have one on the western slope of Colorado, and we have one in New York,” said Meggs. “Of course, we’d love to get it from Texas, but there’s just not enough scale here.”

Interestingly, their need for biomass has not increased but decreased over the years. “Well, it decreased and then it increased,” Meggs clarified. “Before, when we were making and selling CBD, it took a lot more biomass, but once we started making finished goods, the distillate went a lot further, because finished goods may have five milligrams or 10 milligrams versus a kilo of CBD isolate, which is almost a million milligrams. I could sell that million milligrams for $1200, or whatever the going rate is now – we don’t sell bulk anymore – but it goes a whole lot farther if we put that into finished goods.”

All of this provided a real rationalization for shifting the business model, but the truth is the co-founders always wanted their own brands. “Look, we started the business for two reasons,” said Meggs. “One, we wanted to build the infrastructure, because we come from oil and gas, and we know that you’ve got upstream, downstream, midstream, you’ve got all the different sides, and regardless of the price of oil and gas, refineries make their money. That’s the infrastructure that you have to have to put out the products to the consumer, and good or bad, they always make money.

“Plus, Jeremy and I always had a really big affinity for cannabis,” he added. “We just believed in it. We always wanted to be on the medical side, we knew that licenses in Texas were eventually going to open up again, and we knew we wanted to make finished goods and have our own brand. But the way to get started was to build the infrastructure. It takes a lot of expertise, and it takes a lot of capital, and those were two things we thought we could put together better than anybody, and we did.”

But they had another advantage. “We started out knowing where we were going,” said Meggs. “We started out as an ingredient supplier, and when we started out, isolate was $50,000 a kilo. When we got up and running and were fully operational, it was below $1,500 a kilo. As you can imagine, that wasn’t what we sold to our investors, but they had invested in people. These were family and friends and a lot of family offices, high net-worth individuals, and they believed in us. When the price dropped, we just pivoted immediately to finished goods, and when we did that, we said, ‘We want to make products for all these other people, and that’s how we’re going to do it.’

“But we were in Texas,” he added. “Nobody even knows that we exist down here, and nobody even knows that people are playing in hemp down here, so we said, ‘Well, let’s just go ahead and create our brands.’ So, instead of waiting until we want to go off into the market with our brands, we have created brands now so we can show our b2b business customers what our capabilities are. In doing that, we built a very big business in contract manufacturing, and through that, gosh, if there’s a beverage out there, a real beverage, that’s been around for some time, we made that beverage. We may not have made it commercially, but we have made all the top beverages out there at one time or another.”

Were these the well-known hemp-derived brands that we know right off the tip of our tongue? “Yes,” said Meggs, “we made their beverages, and the unique thing that did is it created a ton of expertise here. We have our own proprietary nanoemulsion, so not only did we make beverages, but we got all of those companies to switch to our nanoemulsion, which was our requirement to come into Texas. We had the vertical and we did all the contract manufacturing, which built the business, and then we acquired 8th Wonder. We knew that as the market develops there’s a finite amount of capacity, and as our brands evolve we may have to take away contract manufacturing. The goal was always for that revenue to replace contract manufacturing revenue as the market started opening up.”

Other essential pieces of the puzzle fell into place. “When we got Silver Eagle, one of the largest InBev distributors in the country, to agree to distribute us, that was a huge win for us, and it really kicked us off,” said Meggs. “That’s when we decided that now’s the time to focus on our own brands and have a portfolio of cannabis lifestyle brands, and so that’s what we now have. We have beverages and every beverage has a matching gummy. It’s when they really started taking off that we eliminated contract manufacturing, and now we’re 100 percent into our own brands.”

Texas, Hemp, and Medical

Meggs had mentioned that when Texas opens up more medical licenses, Bayou City will be in the market for one. “They did open them up and we applied, and we believe we’re the front runner in the application process,” he informed me. “We submitted a year ago. In fact, at the same time we were closing on 8th Wonder, we were submitting our application that we worked on for two years.”

I wondered if getting that license would change how his business is regulated, but Meggs said they already exceed any applicable regs. “For our business and what we’re doing, we are very, very responsible. We come from the most heavily regulated industry in the world – oil and gas – so being unregulated is very foreign to us, and we don’t run businesses that way. That’s why we built a state-of-the-art GMP- and NSF-certified facility, and why we are a very unique company in that we are fully vertically integrated all the way through, we make our own gummies, and we make our own beverages both in alcohol and in cannabis. In cannabis specifically, we’re focused solely on hemp because that’s all we’re allowed to do right now. We don’t have a medical license yet, but we have applied.

“In hemp,” he added, “you can look at any of our products, and you’re not going to find them in smoke shops mostly; you’re going to find them on mainstream shelves in retail sales channels, because we’re running a real CPG company. Everything you see out there is going to be low dose, everything is childproof, and even though the law in Texas is 18-and-up, everything we have is placed where there are only 21-and-up products.”

Does that mean they are already meeting the same safety standards they would be asked to meet on the medical cannabis side? “That’s correct, and I’ll walk you through that,” said Meggs. “On the hemp side, we believe in self-regulation, and we believe there is a right way to roll this out to the consumers and retailers. We’re not going after the dispensaries, because the 6 or 7 percent of the population that goes into dispensaries is not our market. We’re going after the 95 percent of canna-curious consumers that want an alternative to alcohol, that want a good experience, and want something that’s special. They want to take the edge off and not have a hangover, and that’s what we provide. In order to do that, you have to provide a product that has the similar velocities to other CPG products that are taking up shelf space.

“CBD never did that,” he added, “so we only put out Delta 9 THC products, because that’s what’s written in statute, and that’s what’s written in the federal farm bill as it stands today, under point 3 percent dry weight Delta 9. That’s what we live by. So, every single product we have on the market today is derived from hemp, and it’s under point three percent Delta 9, and everything we have is under 10 milligrams. It’s actually under eight mgs because that’s the law in Louisiana, so we keep everything under eight milligrams.

“And why I say this and why it’s so important to me is because we are educating our consumers, we are giving them sessionable low dose products that are very akin to drinking a Miller or Bud or Coors Light,” he continued. “It’s sessionable, with the same velocity as alcohol, and it gives the consumer a very similar experience except with faster offset and no hangover. And that’s where we believe that differentiation is. To me, there is going to be a low dose and a high dose market. The low dose market is going to be hemp, and the high dose market is going to be on the medical side. I believe all products in the future, if they’re not flower, will be derived from hemp, whether it’s medical or whether it’s the more mainstream low dose market. It’s just economics.”

As far as why Bayou City applied for a medical license in the first place, Meggs said it was “because we believe that high dose products do not have a place on mainstream shelves. We believe that there is a medical side to these cannabinoids, and it is in a much higher dose, but it’s not meant to be on a mainstream shelf. It’s meant to be in a medical market where you can actually help someone who is taking it for medical reasons.

Bayou City wants to provide those higher dose products, too. “Absolutely,” emphasized Meggs. “We just believe that there should not be extremely high doses on shelves in mainstream sales channels like there are today. So, in convenience stores, liquor stores, grocery stores, there should not be high-dose products on those shelves. Low dose makes sense, and we believe that there needs to be access to the higher dose products for medical purposes, but they shouldn’t live on mainstream shelves. We believe they’re two separate markets.”

Total Wine and Beyond

In May, it was announced that Bayou City and 8th Wonder had “added their full portfolio of hemp-derived THC beverages to all 38 stores throughout Texas and all five Louisiana locations. Products available include HOWDY, Beach Break, and 8th Wonder Cannabis.”

I asked Meggs what was preventing their products from being on a Total Wine and More shelves in my home state of Connecticut tomorrow? “We’re onboarding in pretty much every state that Total Wine is accepting products,” replied. “However, we’re very methodical in how we’re rolling this out. Connecticut’s a long way away.

“We will absolutely send product up there, and we have a distributor for both Connecticut and Rhode Island,” he added, “but we run our business a little differently. As I mentioned, we’re going after mainstream distribution and sales channels, so we don’t just enter a market and put our products out there. We have an entire field sales team, and we have an entire field marketing team, and when we enter into a state, we expand that team, because we’re running this like a CPG business. Right now, we’re focused on Texas, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida. That’s where we’re moving rapidly, and we’re not moving into a state because a distributor reaches out to us. We’re taking a more methodical approach than that, and in the states that we’re in, we have the largest alcohol wholesalers in the state distributing our products.”

Neither is the Total Wine deal a one-off. “We’re in Spec’s, we’re in Total Wine, and we’re talking to several other very large liquor, grocery, and convenience store chains across the country, as well as distributors,” said Meggs. “It’s absolutely insane how quickly this market has opened up, and how fast it’s starting to move. I just can’t explain the feeling that we’re experiencing, but it’s an exciting one, because we’ve been in this game for a long time, and we’ve pivoted at the right moments and made the right moves.

“And we’ve held on,” he added. “That’s really the game – to hold on until the market catches up and you can capture market share with whatever product that might be. And we were well ahead of the game because of the beverage side and because of the acquisition of 8th Wonder, and all of the capacity and our ability to improve our margins. I won’t even say what our margins are because we’re entirely vertically integrated, but when the price contraction happens, we won’t blink an eye.”

What sort of production growth were they planning for, because it sounded as though there is no limit to the growth of this sector. “That is correct,” said Meggs. “We are in the process of expanding our capacity tenfold right now.”

He added that they could do that in their present location. “We’re one of the larger breweries in Texas. If we’re talking in equivalent beer terms, I’m talking hundreds of thousands of barrels.”

Will it also make sense to acquire other breweries in different parts of the country over time? “Yes,” replied Meggs. “Texas is very unique. Because it’s so centrally located, the southeast is not a problem, and we’re obviously in New Mexico as well. But there’s going to be a time when it will make sense for us, because we experience margins that I think most of these brands will never experience, and we’re going to want to maintain them. And we’re going to get tired of shipping beverages to the Northeast and the Northwest, so the goal would be to expand there in time. We’re trying to follow an Athletic Brewing trajectory, so there’s going to come a time when it just economically makes sense to invest the capital in another facility.

And won’t there also come a time when big beverage comes calling, making an offer they can’t refuse? “Who says they’re not,” he shot back. “I can’t say anything about that, but all jokes aside, I will tell you that we’re uniquely positioned in that we own the entire vertical, we’re centrally located, and we have real distribution, real capacity, and real brands. You can go taste our beverages against any other brands out there on the market, and I believe they’re better. I’ll let you judge that, but we believe they’re the best on the market, and everything is our own, we created it all. And I think that it’s a very unique position to be in when you start talking margins and you start talking big beverage. They only understand margins, and while there are going to be brands out there that are kicked up, I think it’s highly unlikely that big beverage is going to be producing cannabis beverages in their existing facilities, where they’re producing non-cannabis beverages.”

Have Bayou City’s margins and revenues increased as a result of improved efficiencies? “Oh, absolutely, a tremendous amount,” said Meggs. “Our margins are truly unfathomable; they just really are. And look, it was a big, big risk to do what we did very early on before beverages were even taking off. Just like any acquisition, it could have bankrupted us, but things fell into place, and we believed in where the market was going, and then the market went there, and integrating a decade old craft brewery with a four-year-old cannabis manufacturer is a very unique thing to do.”

Does Bayou City have any competitors that fit a similar bill? “I’m sure there is,” said Meggs, “but do I believe there is a competitor that does everything in-house and has the brands that we have? No, I don’t know that there is another. There are other breweries that have cannabis beverages, and they make their own, but they’re still buying an emulsion, and that emulsion company is buying distillate, and there are a lot of pieces there that we’ve cut out, if you will.”

I told Meggs that I was envisioning his beverages on Costco pallets. For that matter, wouldn’t Costco’s Kirkland brand want to own them. Or Walmart, for that matter? “They may want to own this entire vertical for their own private label,” he conceded.

But that is the scenario and scale that is plausible here? “Oh, absolutely,” he assured. “The Diageos, the Constellations are going to come calling, big beer is going to come calling, and then further out, you’ve got the Tilrays out there, the MSOs, who are looking at this thing.”

I was thinking about Constellation the other day. In a sense, they were the canary in the coal mine for big alcohol, and it didn’t go well. Would they take a second bite? “Yes, they will,” said Meggs. “Everybody will. It may be two years from now, but they’re going to have to, because this is not just competing with, but it will exceed, alcohol, and it will be the largest transition that’s ever happened.

“I mean, how much do you think Constellation and Diageo have spent to change consumer behavior – billions and billions of dollars, and still zero change,” he added. “It took COVID, it took that type of event, to change consumer behavior, and it did. And now you’re seeing those changes happen, and they’re converging with this approachable and responsible, very low-dose sessionable product, and that’s why you’re seeing this market take off. It’s really fascinating.”

The Miller Amendment

As far as potential flies in the hemp ointment go, I asked Meggs his reaction to the recently passed Miller Amendment, which is now attached to the House version of the farm bill, which has miles to go before it receives a vote. Sponsored by Rep. Mary Miller (R-IL), it changes the federal definition of hemp to exclude products if they contain cannabinoids that “are not capable of being naturally produced” or are made via chemical synthesis.

“Well, here’s the thing,” said Meggs. “Fortunately, we live in the United States of America, the greatest country on Earth, and we have something called the Constitution, and a lot of it is about liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I can’t say what is going to happen, but what I can tell you is that when there’s a law put in place that is very, very specific, and not gray – maybe Delta 8, Delta 10, and some of these other things are gray and unclear – but what is not unclear is the federal definition of hemp and the way it’s defined, and that is under point 3 percent Delta 9.

“And we live by that, and we built a business on that,” he added. “We have 50-plus employees and families that we support through this, and we built that on the fact that this law was in place, and that it was fully legal, and we pursued those avenues. In this country, have you ever heard of an industry that is this large and moving this rapidly completely go away? Have you ever heard of that in the history of our world?!”

No, I said, unless it was done violently. “Like prohibition,” said Meggs. “So, could it happen? Yes. Do we believe it’s going to happen? No. Do I believe the Miller amendment has any bearing on what the farm bill is? Absolutely not, zero bearing. That’s going to get tossed around ten more times, and that’s even if we get a vote on the farm bill. If that [amendment] had not been put in a block vote and would have gone to a real vote, it would not have passed, and it will not pass next time.”

Still, it seemed as though far too many legislators are hostile to the industry, almost like there’s a war on THC. “But there’s not,” Meggs corrected me. “It’s all political. It’s big marijuana fighting against hemp, and it’s big alcohol. And there are two things happening right in front of our eyes: one, big alcohol is coming in, and two, so are the big marijuana companies. If you listen to any of the earnings calls with the top five, they all announced that they’re rolling out hemp-derived beverages, because they have to.

“So, their lobbying efforts and all these things that are happening are going to start to change, because their interests are changing,” he added, “but we believe that we’re not competing with them. We’re introducing consumers that they never had a chance of getting. How many soccer moms are going into a dispensary or smoke shop? Not very many, but they will shop at H-E-B or Spec’s or Total Wine or Lucky’s or Publix, or wherever they pick up these products. Yes, they’re going to trust it, it’s going to be very low dose, and I think that’s going to make consumers feel much more comfortable using THC for medicinal purposes if they have a medical problem.”

Is there any aspect of the farm bill deliberations that gives him stomach aches? “No,” replied Meggs. “Honestly, we’re all for further regulation. I’ve got three kids, all different ages. I very much care about them not being able to get their hands on that or alcohol or any other regulated product. I firmly believe in meaningful regulation and our company believes in that and that’s why we self-regulate to 21-and-up and we have childproof packaging with our gummies. It’s the same with our beverages, though cans are basically already childproof as much as anything else, just like an alcohol. So, we want the federal definition of hemp to stay the same, but certainly at the state level we believe in further meaningful regulation, and if that means that there needs to be certain things put in place that push bad actors out, we’re all for that.”

Did that mean that Bayou City is copacetic with whatever state-by-state labeling or regulatory requirements they face? “We live by it,” insisted Meggs. “Whatever the laws are, we live by them, and we have very sophisticated attorneys that review all of our in-house testing. Of course, we do third party testing, as we’re regulated to do so, but we have our own internal testing, too. So, we’re able to move a lot quicker than maybe some other companies and brands out there, which benefits us given the hodgepodge regulatory environment out there.”

Rapid Expansion Plans

As exciting as Bayou City’s prospects appear, I wondered what their plans are for distinguishing their products and brands in an increasingly saturated marketplace for these products. “It’s twofold,” said Meggs. “As I mentioned, we’re running this like a real CPG company, and we’re building this through mainstream distribution and mainstream sales channels. If you go look at Red Bull or Liquid Death, these companies are built on a lot of field marketing and field sales reps on the ground teams, and that’s what we have. We’re expanding our footprint rapidly, and I think that’s going to be a key driver in why we’re successful, because we’re running this like a real beverage CPG company.

“It’s also the fact that it is saturated, and pricing is high right now, which we love, because our margins are better than most everyone out there,” he noted. “However, there is going to come a time soon when prices contract. It may be because the market dictates it or it may be because we decide we want to eliminate the competition, but either way, once that happens, there are going to be a lot of companies that have very big marketing budgets that get slashed to a tenth. We won’t have that problem, but as prices contract, a lot of other brands are going to have a very difficult time maintaining shelf space.”

I mentioned that I had just been to a concert and had seen Liquid Death advertisements everywhere I turned and on every screen at the venue. “Those are the guys that are going to buy us out, or they’re going to recap us and put an investment in,” said Meggs. “They’re going to come in, but they’re going to do it through M&A. They’re not going to go recreate the wheel. They don’t need to.”

How far off was that? “I think within one year you’re going to start hearing talk about it, because that’s when the regulatory environment is going to be somewhat settled down,” said Meggs. “Whenever we get past farm bill and things like that, you’re going to see some big moves.”

Passage of the farm bill, and its five-year lifespan would presumably be a huge starting gun for everyone to pony up. “Yes, and it’s not just big beverage,” agreed Meggs. “It’s big alcohol, it’s big cannabis, it’s big everything. Everybody is going to want a piece of this, because it’s the first time that is there’s a product that can be offered on the shelf that can compete with alcohol and provide the consumer with the same feeling without any hangover and without the negative effects. And look, we sell alcohol, we’re a brewery and distillery, and we believe in the alcohol side, too, don’t get me wrong. I just see where this market is going. The generations are changing, the market is changing, and the consumer is changing. This is where it’s going, and it’s going to be a very, very large and meaningful transition.”

I had also done stories on cocktail replacement, and the impact that that could have on society is truly mind boggling. “Our brands have the largest on-premises footprint in the country,” said Meggs. “Not only do we have Ocho Verde, which is the spirit they use to make cocktails that don’t have alcohol, but Ninfa’s, which is one of the most iconic Mexican restaurants in all Texas, and really in the country, serves a drink called the Tranquilita Margarita, and when the Rolling Stones were in town, they came in had three of them. And when they got on stage, Mick Jagger yelled out, ‘I had three Tranquilitas tonight and I’m floating. I’m floating, mate.’ This is on stage in front of 50,000 people. So, not only do we have that, but we’re one of the only companies in the country that has all of our beverages on draft, so we’re taking on draft beer pretty rapidly in bars and restaurants with our cannabis seltzers, as well.”

What about terpene-infused concoctions for limited runs? ‘We do in our tap room, but the broader market is not there, and we’re not going to make the same mistake as craft beer,” noted Meggs. “The market is, you take this Liquid Death route, the Athletic Brewing route, and you go as fast and furious as possible, because that’s where the market is. There’s no reason to confuse the consumer right now. The consumer is very happy drinking their low-dose THC.”

Does that mean there’s a time element, and you need to hit the market fast? “Sure,” said Meggs, “and that’s for any successful group of entrepreneurs. We always feel like we’re losing and we’re behind. That’s just a mindset and a mentality. We have a will to win, and we want to make sure that we’re never behind in this market, because I believe that a company our size has one chance and one chance only. We’ve positioned ourselves incredibly well to win, and now is the time to execute. If we were Liquid Death or Coca Cola or some other multibillion dollar company, we could go in and acquire who we need and wait to see how it all shakes out. We have to be how it shakes out.”

On that note, I asked Meggs if he had anything to add or ask. “Two things,” he said. “We’re rolling out our Ocho Verde, and the other thing we’re rolling out now is every single beverage we have has a matching gummy in both potency and flavor. So, for instance, our Howdy Ranch Water is going to have a Howdy Ranch Water gummy in two-and-a-half milligrams that tastes just like a Ranch Water. That’s something that’s going to be coming out in the next two to three weeks, distributors are starting to pick those up, and you’ll start to see those in the market, so that’s really exciting.

“I think the ask would be just that this market is big enough for all of us,” he added. “I think it’s the same old story that there’s plenty of opportunity for us all to work together – big alcohol, big cannabis, and big marijuana. This is going to open the market to everyone. Alcohol is down and marijuana can’t grow because it’s too costly for the infrastructure to go from state to state. Hemp is the answer for both of them, and it’s also the answer for the consumer who’s looking for an alternative. I think what we need to be focused on is meaningful regulation to provide access to this consumer that wants a different product, and then we can all win together.”

One last question occurred to me. If the worst of congressional politics rears its ugly head and the Miller amendment makes it through, does that mean years of litigation, including possibly from Bayou City? “Years and years and years of litigation,” assured Meggs. “It’s very difficult to put something into law and have people pursue happiness, build businesses, spend capital, and not do an economic study to see what it actually means to completely dissolve all of it. I just think that’s a very, very difficult uphill battle for the United States government.”

And while those years of litigation are underway, you guys are rocking and rolling? “Exactly,” said Meggs, “just like anything else.”

Texas Debate on Banning Delta 8, Delta 9

The Texas Senate Committee on State Affairs held a day-long hearing a few days after our call that, among other topics, included a lengthy discussion – with comments from invited speakers as well as the public – on a charge by the Lieutenant Governor to consider an outright ban on Delta 8 and Delta 9 products in the state. The hearing and any subsequent discussions on the proposal will possibly culminate in legislation for the 2025 session that may ban, but will more likely provide added oversight of, hemp-derived intoxicating products that are sold in the state.

I contacted Bayou City to see if they wanted to comment on the hearing. Ben Meggs sent the following statement: “We are excited that the legislature is having this important discussion and strongly support Texas adopting strong regulations to ensure adults can access safe and legal hemp products while protecting children and ensuring quality and safety in these products,” he said. “A ban on all hemp products would harm the hundreds of thousands of Texans who utilize these products. We look forward to working with the legislature to get this right.”