How Weed Dealers — and Consumers — Are Responding to the Freeflow of Marijuana in Texas

Most people I know take Mary Jane out for a date, at least occasionally. And they typically get it illegally. Sure, weed’s public perception has been on a rapid upswing in the last 15-20 years. Gone are the days where mom’s telling you a little reefer’s gonna make you sluggish, lazy, stupid, and unconcerned. But, it is illegal in Texas — sort of.

Thanks to Texas House Bill 1325, which authorized the production, manufacture, and retail sale of industrial hemp crops and products, hemp-derived products have become inescapable. They’re on shelves in cute local shops, strange gas stations, bougie bodegas, at smoke shops, you can even grab a joint at an upscale boutique to pair with a $1,000 jacket. You can buy Delta-8, Delta-9, THCa, and CBD; in a seltzer, cookie, gummy, vape, bar of chocolate, and yup, even old-fashioned flower. It’s never been easier to catch a buzz or get so high you’re trying on Orion’s Belt. As Texas Monthly reported last month: Texans can just walk into a store, tap your phone on the payment terminal and you’re good to go. With the proliferation of legal highs in our state, I’ve been wondering how people have responded to this new era — consumers and dealers (legal and otherwise) alike. I came across some interesting answers.

First, we’ll start with Saul, whose name, along with others, has been changed to protect his identity from law enforcement. (The Barbed Wire confirmed his identity through corroborating interviews.) Saul says weed dealing has been in his family for decades. His uncle was a Hell’s Angel out in California, who had been growing and distributing cannabis well before Saul was born in the 1980s. “I spent a lot of time around him and his friends, so naturally I just had an abundance of it. I pretty much started selling in the sixth grade,” he says. “I’ve been selling weed for most of my life now.” 

In his early 20s, he says some hostile Russians and Bulgarians moved into his area of California and there were disputes over territories. “I got into some trouble with those guys and my house was getting fucked up and I was getting threats, and so I was like, ‘You know what? I think I’m ready to move.’” 

When his uncle passed away due to complications with hepatitis, diabetes, and heroin use, he made the trek out to Texas and enrolled in a college to get a degree in graphic design. But it didn’t take long for him to start dealing again, and eventually trafficking weed from California. “I went and picked up 200 pounds in duffel bags and drove that from Humboldt all the way through into Texas. Back then you could drive on I-10 and you could get away with it, but now it’s all fucked up. “They have gamma ray X-rays, all that,” he says. “Now you would have to take (a different route). I did that for a long time.” Saul says he usually made the trek up to three times a week and, with it, a ton of money — as much as half a million bucks on a good year.

Now he makes about a third of that. This is in part because he’s eased up on selling large quantities of weed per month. But he claims it’s also a direct effect of the legal highs in Texas. 

Saul says he owns multiple smoke shops in Central Texas and has witnessed the changes in what he calls the “traditional” sale of weed. “I know a lot of my peers, as they make money, they get kind of lazy. I’m sure there’s been a time where you’ve tried to try to call your weed guy and he doesn’t respond, or he says five minutes, and then an hour goes by. Why would somebody want to go through all that if they could just go to the local store and buy (something), that for the most part, works just as good?”

He added, “Your average user doesn’t care. They just want to get stoned. And it doesn’t matter how stoned. Just stoned to a degree.” 

No disrespect to Saul, but the average Texas smoke shop clearly caters to male clientele. It’s a portal into a world of hideous design and big lights on full blast. That’s why Molly Mathias opened up Go Easy in Dallas’ Bishop Arts neighborhood, in 2020. It’s intended as a sanctuary for stoner girls, theys, and gays, but any discerning straight dude can waste a good amount of money there, too. 

Inside, you’ll find skin and self-care products, glass cases holding cheeky little pipes, a large mirror adorned with pastel foam, and of course hemp-derived goods. “There is a significant chunk of the population that still sees these things as synthetic or fake weed or gas station weed. But people are coming around and understanding the different sciences behind it,” Mathias says. “I would say especially the true stoners, the people that legit are high all the time — they get it. I like Delta-8 for different reasons than I like Delta-9. Delta-8 is a different experience and sometimes I prefer that experience. I think people are learning the different benefits of each one and becoming much more open to adding all of it into their routine.” 

Mathias says hemp-derived products are where Go Easy makes the biggest chunk of its money.  The average Go Easy customer gravitates towards infused gummies and drinks. “With the gummies, it’s not hard to run into someone who has a pack from when they went to California or they know somebody and they’re not as difficult to get. It’s just a little more convenient, a little bit cheaper (to get them in a local store). But the drinks are what people get the most excited about,” Mathias says. “I think because it’s such an alternative to alcohol and it’s an easier way to consume.” As far as the pre-rolled joints are concerned, customers aren’t as receptive but still interested. “The legalities are still kind of iffy, so people are still a little bit nervous about it. I would say, in Dallas, people are definitely becoming way more aware. A lot of people just see it as convenient because instead of finding a plug, at almost every single shop down the street, they can at least get a THC-A pre-roll.” 

It’s not all smooth sailing for Go Easy, though. According to Mathias, because cannabis is still illegal federally, and the precarity of state laws feeding the hemp-derived industry, it’s seen as a risky business — the same as alcohol and tobacco and the sex and porn industries in the eyes of banks and credit card processors. “I’ve had the credit card payment processor for my store shut down maybe 10 times, I lost count. My name is personally banned from PayPal and Square. I can never start an account again. I’ve been banned from Eventbrite…all kinds of stuff,” she says. “But I take precautions. I don’t leave money sitting in any business bank account too long. As soon as I get the money in there, I transfer it out, just in case an account gets shut down.”

As Mathias and Saul have seen a spike in interest in cannabis alternatives, there are still a ton of skeptical people. I spoke to another cannabis dealer, let’s call him Dale, who says hemp-derived products “seem like a phase or a fad,” and likens it to when smokers were obsessed with cartridges, dabs, or even the dangerous synthetic take on weed, spice. “I think most people still prefer actual flower,” Dale says. He hasn’t seen much of a change in his business and isn’t aware of many people who partake in the hemp-derived option. (As with Saul, The Barbed Wire has also corroborated Dale’s identity — in person and through public records.)

Even though hemp-derived products aren’t the same as something like spice, the association is difficult to divorce for some people. I asked a longtime fixture in the Dallas music scene if he’s ever tried any of the new products on the market. He told me he isn’t a fan. 

“I don’t do frankenweed. I like my weed grown out the ground only. No lab coats. No preservatives. No excessive, loophole-exploiting genetic modification for me,” he says. “I know that creating different strains is a means of genetic modification, but anything beyond that feels like playing God — and I don’t play with God.”

What the hell is that? 

There are over 80 cannabinoids in Cannabis. That’s a lot. Here’s a quick rundown of what you’ll find in stores. 

What’s the difference between cannabis and hemp?

For legal purposes, cannabis contains more than 0.3% naturally occurring THC content by dry weight. Hemp contains below 0.3% naturally occurring THC by dry weight. The products you see on shelves are derived from hemp and converted in a lab using expensive equipment into the substances you can buy from stores. They are natural, but take some chemical intervention to make.