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Texas retailers can resume selling smokable hemp products after a Travis County judge temporarily blocked some of the state’s sweeping new regulations on the hemp industry.
The background: On March 31, the state health department enacted rules changing how THC content is measured in consumable hemp, which industry experts said effectively outlawed most smokable hemp products.
The Texas Hemp Business Council, a federal hemp industry group, and several local hemp companies sued the state April 8, arguing that the state health department does not have the authority to reclassify legal THC levels. State officials have defended the rules, saying they are in line with a September executive order by Gov. Greg Abbott, who at the time called for stricter oversight of the multibillion-dollar hemp industry.
The latest: Travis County District Judge Maya Guerra Gamble sided with the hemp industry in an April 10 ruling, directing the state not to enforce the new THC testing requirement and a restriction on the transportation of hemp products between states. An additional hearing is scheduled for April 23.
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