KILLEEN, Texas (KWTX) – A new law federally restricting hemp-derived THC products was added at the last minute to the funding bill that ended the longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history.
Officials with the Texas Department of the Veterans of Foreign Wars told KWTX many veterans are worried about the move.
A large number of Texas veterans use THC products derived from hemp, like consumable gummies and drinks, that have a very low amount of intoxicating THC.
That includes retired veteran and Legislative Chairman for the Texas Department of the VFW, Mitch Fuller.
“I’m 58-years-old so, just basic aches and pains,” said Fuller. “A hemp roll-on. A roll-on on my knees, and my back, my shoulders, and my neck. Then half of a 10-milligram gummy or sometimes a full 10-milligram gummy, and I’m not getting high.”
He said the products he uses are to help his pain and PTSD and not to get intoxicated as some might people think.
“Nothing could be further from the truth,” said Fuller. “What’s getting us high, what’s poisoning us, is the pills and a lot times, the pills will facilitate alcohol abuse.”
The new spending bill will ban those products from being sold in gas stations, corner stores, and online.
Products Fuller said are saving the lives of veterans across the country.
“For us, it’s a serious threat to our physical and mental health because it’s a choice a lot of us choose, or utilize, to the pills,” said Fuller.
Fuller and the Commander Texas State VFW recently testified in the Texas Legislature against a similar ban that Governor Abbott vetoed.
Now, the same thing is happening on the federal level and he said this will have devastating effects on the veteran community.
“This will push veterans back onto pills, or back towards alcohol, or even worse, to illegal marijuana,” said Fuller.
That’s why he plans to join the National VFW in advocating against this ban before it takes effect a year from now.
“This was an unbelievably sneaky way to do this and I suspect, once the general public and everybody understands what just happened last night, there’s going to be an uproar,” said Fuller.
According to the Texas State VFW, this ban would also have massive effects on veteran-owned businesses and farms that produce and sell hemp-derived TCH products.
The implications of such a ban will affect more than just consumers of these products, it could impact parts of the Texas economy that have benefited from the production and sale of hemp-derived THC products.
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