Politics
Texas Judge Pauses New Rules Banning Hemp Products Like Smokable THCA Flower Amid Legal Challenge From Industry
A Texas judge has issued a temporary restraining order preventing the enforcement of new state rules restricting access to hemp-derived products such as smokable THCA flower.
The ruling on Friday comes in a lawsuit brought by a coalition of hemp industry leaders and advocacy organizations that claim the Department of State Health Services (DSHS) and the Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) illegally bypassed lawmakers to effectively ban the sale and manufacture of certain consumable hemp products.
The order from District Court of Travis County Judge Guerra Gamble pauses the new hemp product restrictions for 14 days while the broader legal dispute is considered.
“This lawsuit is really based on a constitutional separation powers issue,” Jason Snell, an attorney for the plaintiffs, including the Texas Hemp Business Council (THBC) and Hemp Industry & Farmers of America (HIFA), said during a hearing on Friday, characterizing the new restrictions enacted by regulators as “illegal rules.”
“Here we are today, with the regulators attempting to do what the legislators could not and did not do, and that’s illegal,” he said. “What the legislature refuses to enact cannot be imposed through rulemaking. The rule-makers cannot overstep their authority and enact rules that are more restrictive than what the legislators have enacted.”
“Thousands of people lose their products, their lifetime investments, their businesses, their jobs, everything they poured their heart and soul into,” Snell said. “Those are already going away and could be gone forever unless this illegal regulatory framework is stopped.”
Zachary Berg, a lawyer for the state, suggested during the hearing that the new rules are needed to comply with a federal law that is set to redefine legal hemp under a restrictive new definition beginning in November.
Under state law as approved by the legislature and governor in 2019, the suit says, cannabis products are legal if they contain a delta-9 THC concentration of not more than 0.3 percent. But regulators at DSHS and HHSC recently adopted a “total delta-9 THC” limit using a post-decarboxylation formula that includes tetrahydrocannabinolic acid (THCA) in the calculation.
Texas lawmakers did pass legislation to severely restrict hemp products in the 2025 session, but it was vetoed by Gov. Greg Abbott (R) and not enacted into law.
The hemp industry lawsuit, which also lists Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) as a defendant, additionally challenges large increases in business licensing fees that regulators adopted. Under the new rules, the cost for a manufacturer license increased from $250 to $10,000 per facility, while the fee for retailer registration jumped from $150 to $5,000 per location.
The judge on Friday did not grant a restraining order on the new fees, however.
“These measures do not implement the Legislature’s policy choices; they replace them,” the industry complaint says. “And they do so against the backdrop of a constitutional lawmaking process that ran its full course—from legislative passage of Senate Bill 3 through gubernatorial veto, through two failed special sessions—and produced an unambiguous result: no new law. Texas law does not permit agencies to override that result through rulemaking.”
“Texas has long promoted itself as a national leader in economic growth and regulatory stability. It is a state committed to fostering innovation, supporting lawful enterprise, and maintaining a predictable legal environment in which businesses can operate and invest,” it says. “Consistent with that approach, Texas has chosen to permit and regulate the manufacture, distribution, and sale of consumable hemp products (“CHPs”) through a comprehensive statutory framework enacted by the Legislature in 2019.
“Plaintiffs support that framework and the State’s interest in ensuring that CHPs are produced and sold safely, responsibly, and in compliance with law,” the suit says.
In addition to the immediate temporary restraining order to block enforcement of the new rules, plaintiffs are asking for temporary and permanent injunctive relief. A hearing on the motion for a temporary injunction is scheduled for April 23.
Separately, Texas officials recently conditionally approved more new medical marijuana business licenses as part of a law that’s being implemented to significantly expand the state’s cannabis program.
Last month, Texas voters approved a marijuana legalization question that appeared on the state’s Democratic primary ballot.
A statewide poll released in February found that Texas voters don’t like how state leaders and lawmakers have handled marijuana and THC policy issues. In the survey, a plurality of voters (40 percent) said they disapprove of how their elected officials have approached the issue, according to the survey. Just 29 percent said they approve of how cannabis issues have been handled, while 31 percent said they didn’t have an opinion one way or another.
A separate poll released last year found that a plurality of Texas voters want the state’s marijuana laws to be made “less strict.” And among the legislative items lawmakers considered during recent special sessions, voters say a proposal to address hemp regulations was among the least important.
Meanwhile, the lieutenant governor and House speaker announced recently that the state will proceed with its own ibogaine research program after no drug companies submitted proposals meeting requirements and standards to receive state funds to begin clinical trials with the psychedelic under a recently enacted law.
