Texas legalized hemp and its non-psychoactive derivative CBD. Gov. Greg Abbott signed House Bill 1325 on June 11, which allows for the farming, transportation and sale of hemp products, effective immediately.
The move by the second-largest state in the U.S. is an important step following hemp’s federal legalization under the farm bill in 2018. It opens the door for a lucrative industry to move outside the grey market, while offering a new legal cash crop for Texas farmers.
On the transport side, HB1325 appears to address some of the pitfalls about hauling hemp. The Department of Public Safety is being tasked to develop a shipping certificate or cargo manifest related to hemp transport. They will be issued to license holders and contain unique identifying numbers for each shipment to facilitate roadside inspections.
Furthermore the law states: “It is the policy of this state not to interfere with the interstate commerce of hemp or transshipment of hemp through the state.” Forthcoming rules will be developed to insure that legal marijuana is not disguised in hemp shipments.
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About 500 million tons of cargo gets shipped on the Mississippi River each year. However, recent flooding has stalled hundreds of barges. Many of them contain grain headed to the Gulf Coast for exports.
Quotable
“After a lackluster May, June is shaping up to be a pivotal month for trucking.”
The ETFMG Alternative Harvest ETF (MJ) was unchanged in after-hours trading Wednesday. Year-to-date, MJ has declined -0.14%, versus a 8.50% rise in the benchmark S&P 500 index during the same period.
MJ currently has an ETF Daily News SMART Grade of C (Neutral), and is ranked #56 of 85 ETFs in the Global Equities ETFs category.
This article is brought to you courtesy of Benzinga.
