While Texas is relaxing a Hempire and cannabis laws in baby steps, the Lucky Leaf Expo returns to Irving from July 9th to 10th »Dallas Innovates

Image: Blackmoon9 / iStock

In Texas, people may not be lighting legal cannabis for the foreseeable future. But since hemp cultivation was legalized in Texas in 2019, CBD oil with 0.3% or less THC is also legal here, and the expanded use of medicinal cannabis was only passed in Austin this month, it’s the perfect time for the Lucky Leaf Expo holding its second local Hemp / CBD conference July 9-10 at the Irving Convention Center.

The expo will feature 120 exhibitors, 40 speakers, panels, Cooking with CBD and hemp demos on the expo floor, as well as a pre-show cannabis business crash course presented by Cannacourse. The business class takes place on Thursday, July 8th, for a separate fee of $ 499.

“We have a diverse selection of exhibitors in each channel of the CBD hemp industry who specialize in selling seeds, CPAs, lawyers, accountants, processors, manufacturers and soft gel companies to get you started in your business easier, ”said Chad Sloan, the show’s sales director, in a statement.

[Image: Lucky Leaf]

Sloan told Dallas Innovates that about 50 percent of the show is aimed at a business-to-business audience and 50 percent for consumers “who are just curious about hemp, CBD and cannabis.”

Lucky Leaf hosted its first ever expo in North Texas in 2019. The “Hybrid” organization holds conferences across the country, with cannabis focusing in states such as Oklahoma, New Mexico, Virginia, Michigan, and New York, where medicinal or recreational use is more common.

“In Texas, we only do hemp and CBD shows,” Sloan said – which means that instead of cooking with cannabis demos, Chef Michael Weinstein is doing CBD and hemp oil recipes.

Still, up to 40% of the conference will focus on cannabis, legalization efforts and business opportunities now and in the future. “We’re just a hybrid company smart enough to see potential in both industries,” Sloan told us.

Click the image to go to the Texas Department of Agriculture website.

Building a Texan ‘Hempire’

In 2019, the industrial cultivation of hemp – a cousin of the cannabis plant without enough THC to cause intoxicating effects – was legalized by the Texas House Bill 1325. There is now an entire Texas Department of Agriculture microsite dedicated to the program.

“We’ve been in the hemp business for almost a year here in Texas and we’re busy building the Texas’ Hempire,” said Sid Miller, commissioner for the Texas Department of Agriculture, in a statement last January. At the time, Miller said Texas had “issued over 1,150 grower licenses, allowed over 5,000 acres of hemp in the ground, and over 15 million square feet of hemp in greenhouses.”

Medical cannabis expansion in Texas

Earlier this month, a bipartisan move by the Texas legislature expanded the Texas Compassionate Use Program. House Bill 1535 – which Governor Greg Abbott signed Tuesday – allows doctors to prescribe low-THC medical cannabis for all cancer and PTSD patients, increasing THC levels from 0.5 percent to one percent. Governor Greg Abbott signs But, as the San Antonio Report notes, many cannabis enthusiasts believe that medical cannabis laws in Texas are still far too restrictive.

In the state’s 87th legislature, about 60 legislative reform bills were tabled to the cannabis bill this year, but only two made it to Governor Greg Abbott’s desk, wrote the San Antonio Report, quoting Dr. Bryon Adinoff, EVP of Doctors for Cannabis Regulation, said, “One percent THC is just CBD, and CBD is now legal across the country. Texas is taking these tiny baby steps right now while the rest of the country is making tremendous strides and now has access to medical marijuana with decent amounts of THC. “

Is it safe to say that Lucky Leaf Expo is a proponent of medical and recreational cannabis legalization?

“Big time, yes. Big time, ”Sloan said.

Dallas cannabis investment firm sees potential

The conference could resonate with at least one well-known Dallas investor: Matt Hawkins, managing partner of cannabis investment firm Entourage Effect Capital. Entourage has invested over $ 200 million in more than 65 cannabis-related companies over the past seven years, primarily on the West Coast and Colorado. Last month, the company announced its third flagship fund, with a target of $ 150 million, that will focus on companies in the later phase. You can read our Hawkins profile here.

Information on ticket prices, opening times and more for the Lucky Leaf Expo can be found here.

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