It’s high time to close the synthesized THC hemp legal loophole | Opinion
End run
The U.S. hemp industry brought the federal ban on itself by repeatedly fighting attempts at regulation. Thirty-nine state and territorial attorneys general recently submitted a letter to the Justice Department in support of the ban, including some from states where cannabis is legal. That should tell us something.
The industry is loaded with bad actors selling highly intoxicating THC synthesized from hemp. Makers of hemp products thought they could circumvent decades of established law with a loophole and a chemistry set. It doesn’t work that way, as they’re finding out.
- Michael Moreland, Arlington
Editor’s note: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton did not sign the letter.
Meet needs
The Star-Telegram’s reporting shows how close to the edge many Fort Worth single mothers live. When more than one-third of single mothers with young children in Tarrant County are in poverty — and some neighborhoods approach 70% — every bit of support matters. (Nov. 16, 1A, “Report looks at how to help Tarrant County’s single mothers”) Rent takes more than half their income, child care is scarce and many lack health insurance.
Cuts and tighter eligibility rules for Medicaid and SNAP in the One Big Beautiful Bill threaten the families highlighted in this report. Losing Medicaid means more mothers and children without basic care. Losing SNAP means less money for groceries in a city where food banks are already stretched thin. And as we saw during the federal government shutdown, even brief SNAP delays push families into crisis.
Fort Worth single mothers work hard to keep their families afloat. Congress should strengthen Medicaid, SNAP and housing programs — not weaken them.
- Craig C. Roshaven, Fort Worth
Look at Houston
In his Nov. 16 column “Weak arguments against state’s Fort Worth ISD takeover ignore a crisis” (6C), Ryan Rusak offers zero reasons that a state takeover of Fort Worth ISD would be effective. He calls for trust in a process overseen by a governor unabashedly hell-bent on supporting private and charter schools over public ones.
Parents resisting the Texas Education Agency takeover care deeply about students in the Fort Worth district, where my own kids attend . We know a takeover is not the solution. It has already caused uncertainty and chaos , distracting from the marked progress under Superintendent Karen Molinar.
We’ve seen what happened when the state took over the Houston ISD, and we know that test scores do not paint the full picture. Students and teachers are leaving that district at a significantly higher rate than they did before the takeover. If it was so effective, why?
- Zach Leonard, Fort Worth
Editor’s note: The writer is president of Families Organized and Resisting Takeover and wrote this on behalf of the group’s board.
Tough love
The state was right to take over the Fort Worth school district. Houston ISD appears to be an example of getting it done. I fear elected school board members eventually will return that district to personal fiefdoms and make it awful again.
My parents divorced when I was 10, and I frequently switched schools. While my math skills were above average, my reading and writing skills were not. By the time I was 13 and back with my mom, they lagged so badly that I never caught up.
Today, I’m a certified public accountant. Fort Worth, Houston and other struggling school districts have many students like me. Schools need tough love, and some students need to repeat grades until they can read and write at grade level.
- Harvey Nelson, Katy