Hemp is Not the Problem, Fear is
- Jun 23
- 4 min read
Written by Monserrat Menendez, Interior Designer
Monserrat is an entrepreneur, interior architect, and sustainability advocate, as well as the founder of Senom Design, a firm dedicated to merging innovative design with sustainable solutions. With over a decade of experience across residential, commercial, and international projects, she specializes in bringing clients’ visions to life through thoughtful, high-impact interiors.
I’ve been watching the Texas hemp industry get dragged through the courts for months now, and every time I see a new headline, I think the same thing, we are banning the wrong thing.
As of June 2025, the Texas 15th Court of Appeals allowed a near-total ban on smokable hemp products to take effect, overturning a temporary injunction that had kept retailers open since April. The next legal battle is set for July 27. While the courtrooms debate what “smokable” means, an entire ecosystem of farmers, formulators, architects, and material innovators is holding its breath.
Here’s the thing no one in the legislature seems to want to talk about, hemp is not one product. It never was.
The plant they keep mistaking for the problem
Cannabis sativa has been cultivated for over 10,000 years. The ancient Egyptians used their fibers. Chinese medicine documented its applications centuries ago. Colonial America did not just tolerate hemp, it required farmers to grow it. Sails. Rope. Paper. The fabric of a functioning civilization.
Then the 20th century happened. Political conflation. The War on Drugs. Decades of policy built on fear and, frankly, on protecting competing industries, cotton, petroleum, plastics, and synthetic textiles, that stood to lose if hemp kept its market share.
The 2018 Farm Bill was supposed to close that chapter. It legalized industrial hemp federally, capping THC at 0.3%. It was an acknowledgment, finally, that the plant and the policy had been confused for long enough. Texas is now trying to reopen it.
What we actually lose when we ban hemp
I work in luxury interior design. I also work in sustainability. Those two identities used to feel like they were in constant negotiation with each other. Hemp is one of the materials that helped me stop arguing with myself.
The applications go far beyond what legislators are trying to regulate.
Hempcrete, a composite of hemp hurds and lime, is actively being used in high-performance, low-carbon construction. It sequesters carbon during its lifetime, not just at installation.
Hemp textiles are showing up in luxury interiors, upholstery, drapery, and wall coverings. The hand feel has evolved. The durability is remarkable. The footprint is a fraction of conventional cotton.
Hemp requires no synthetic pesticides, uses significantly less water than cotton, and improves soil health through a process called phytoremediation. It pulls toxins out of the ground.
Hemp-based bioplastics are being explored as alternatives to petroleum-derived packaging. Hemp seed oils are entering wellness and functional food markets.
None of this gets you high. None of this is what the Texas legislature is concerned about. But all of it gets caught in the crossfire when policy cannot tell the difference between a plant and a product.
The real question is not about hemp
I have spent over a decade watching fear-based thinking dominate conversations that should be about innovation. The design industry did it with reclaimed materials, "will clients accept it?" The hospitality sector did it with sustainable textiles, "do they perform?" Now, policy is doing it with hemp.
What we are really watching is a collision between two fundamentally different visions for the future. One that protects established industries and existing comfort zones. One that asks, what if we built things differently?
The farmers, the formulators, the hemp textile designers, and the hempcrete architects are not asking for special treatment. They are asking for the chance to compete on merit. To let the science speak. To let the market respond.
When we legislate a plant out of existence without distinguishing between its applications, we do not just harm one industry. We signal something much more damaging, that we are not serious about the sustainable economy we keep saying we want.
What comes next
July 27 is the next court date. That is when the legal argument continues. But the real argument, the one about what kind of economy we are building, what materials we trust, and who gets to decide, that one is ongoing.
I am not here to tell you hemp is perfect. No material is. But I am here to tell you that banning it wholesale, without precision, without nuance, without listening to the people actually building with it, is a failure of imagination dressed up as policy.
We have been here before. We banned things we did not understand. We protected industries we did not want to disrupt. We paid the price later, in pollution, in toxicity, and in systems that were never designed to last.
Hemp has been waiting for this moment for a hundred years. The least we can do is not make it wait for another one.
Read more from Monserrat Menendez
Monserrat Menendez, Interior Designer
Monserrat is an entrepreneur, interior architect, and sustainability advocate, as well as the founder of Senom Design, a firm dedicated to merging innovative design with sustainable solutions. With over a decade of experience across residential, commercial, and international projects, she specializes in bringing clients’ visions to life through thoughtful, high-impact interiors. She is the U.S. Brand Ambassador for U Green, an organization that helps companies become more profitable while empowering people and brands to follow a consistent path toward sustainability through transformative education and specialized consulting. As an Executive Contributor to Brainz Magazine, she shares her expertise in design, sustainability, and innovation. Her mission is to create spaces that are not only beautiful but also responsible and forward-thinking.
