Texas’s attorney general—who is also the Republican nominee in a hard-fought race for a U.S. Senate seat in November—has accepted more than $500,000 in political donations from the alcohol industry while using the power of his office to crack down on cannabis, according to a review of campaign finance records.
As attorney general, Ken Paxton has filed lawsuits seeking to overturn voter-approved local marijuana decriminalization policies in cities across Texas.
His office has also defended hemp restrictions in court against lawsuits from the industry. That includes a recently enacted ban on certain hemp-derived THC products, including those containing delta-8 and delta-10 THC. Now classified as Schedule I drugs under state law, possession is treated as a felony, carrying a punishment of up to two years in prison and fines of up to $10,000.
Paxton’s Democratic opponent for the Senate seat, James Talarico, supports marijuana reform and has suggested that Paxton has taken anti-cannabis actions in order to aid his political donors in the alcohol industry.
“It doesn’t make any sense until you follow the money and realize that it is big beer and big tobacco that are funding the politicians, like Ken Paxton, who turned around and banned these safe
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