Politics
Texas Governor Orders Increased Enforcement Against Hemp Product Violations
The governor of Texas is calling on the state Department of Public Safety (DPS) to escalate enforcement against smoke shops that are violating laws related to the sale of intoxicating hemp products, including a recently enacted emergency rule barring people under 21 from purchasing cannabis.
In a directive issued on Tuesday, Gov. Greg Abbott (R) ordered the Criminal Investigations Division (CID) of DPS to take a series of steps to ensure industry compliance with state hemp laws, including “targeted operations” to identify and inspect smoke and vape shops suspected of running afoul of the rules.
DPS CID agents would then be required to use information from those inspections to conduct “undercover operations to identify unlawful activity” and, when warranted, initiate criminal proceedings.
The public safety department’s crime lab will test products from shops under investigation to determine whether they meet the legal definition of hemp, which is cannabis containing no more than 0.3 percent THC by dry weight.
“DPS will leverage all federal and local law enforcement partnerships to further these investigations,” the governor’s office said in a press release.
“Texas will protect children from dangerous hemp products,” Abbott said. “Today, I directed the Texas Department of Public Safety to increase surveillance and enforcement of any vape and smoke shop violating Texas law. Texas will prioritize protecting our children.”
This comes days after Texas officials adopted a set of emergency rules meant to prevent the sale of intoxicating hemp products to people under 21.
After similar restrictions were implemented by the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) late last month, the state Department of State Health Services (DSHS) announced last week that they’ve moved forward with policies changes that comply with the governor’s recent executive order on hemp.
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The executive order was issued following unsuccessful efforts in the legislature to impose an outright ban on hemp products with any quantifiable amount of THC.
Meanwhile this month, the head of the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) pushed back against a GOP senator’s “incorrect assertions” about the state’s regulatory compliance with federal hemp laws. But he also signaled that changes may be coming to measure “total THC” to determine the legality of hemp products in a way that some stakeholders worry could negatively impact the industry.
Separately, a recent survey from a GOP pollster affiliated with President Donald Trump found that Texas Democratic and Republican voters are unified in their opposition to the hemp ban proposal.
Image element courtesy of AnonMoos.
