Politics
Texas Officials File Revised Rule Banning Hemp THC Sales To People Under 21 As State Expands Medical Marijuana Program
Texas officials have released a revised proposed rule to ban the sale of hemp THC products to people under 21.
After the governor issued an emergency order barring such sales, the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) put forward temporary emergency rules to codify the policy change—and now it’s planning to adopt an amended regulation on the issue permanently after receiving public and stakeholder input.
“If ultimately adopted, the rules proposed now will replace the emergency rules,” TABC said in a notice published in the Texas Register on Friday. “The proposed rules are intended to prevent minors from accessing and using consumable hemp products (CHPs) that will negatively impact the health, general welfare, and public safety of minors in Texas.”
The main components of the proposal would largely align with what they initially implemented following Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R) emergency order, with “some key changes,” the agency said. For example, TABC would be permitted to suspend licenses, rather than outright cancel them, for violations of the rule. That was among several contentions from stakeholders who felt the temporary rules were excessively punitive.
The proposed rule also provides “a licensee or permittee a defense to an enforcement action for failure to inspect proof of identification…if the ultimate consumer or recipient of the CHP is 40 years of age or older.”
“For each year of the first five years the proposed rules are in effect, [the head of TABC] expects that enforcing or administering the proposed rules will have the public benefit of reducing minors’ access to, and use of, CHPs and a corresponding reduction in the public harms associated with such use,” the filing says.
As far as the license suspension provisions are concerned, regulators would be empowered to put a pause on licenses for up to seven days for a first violation, 14 days for a second violation, 30 days for a third violation and institute a cancelation for “any subsequent violation.”
Those changes to the emergency order appear responsive to public feedback that raised serious concerns about the inflexibility of the temporary rule that seemed to put hemp sellers at disproportionate risk of being severely penalized compared to other regulated industries.
Meanwhile, state officials with the Department of Public Safety (DPS) separately conditionally approved nine new medical marijuana business licenses last week as part of a law that’s being implemented to significantly expand the state’s cannabis program.
The department will issue conditional licenses to three additional dispensaries by April 2026.
This represents a major change to the program, as there are currently only three dispensaries licensed to operate in Texas.
DPS in October adopted additional rules to increase the number of licensed dispensaries, establishing security requirements for “satellite” locations and authorizing the revocation of licenses for certain violations.
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These latest developments come after the Department of State Health Services (DSHS) adopted rules allowing doctors to recommend new qualifying conditions for cannabis patients and creating standards for allowable low-THC inhalation devices.
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.
