The Texas Fifteenth Court of Appeals last week denied an emergency request by a coalition of hemp businesses in the state to keep a temporary injunction in place that had allowed the continued sales of consumable hemp THC products, KUT News reports. The decision didn’t determine whether the state’s products ban is legal, but ended a temporary injunction issued by a lower court on May 1 that had prohibited the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) from enforcing major portions of consumable hemp regulations while the lawsuit against the agency plays out.
The state’s “Total THC Rule” counts THCA – which is common in consumable hemp products sold in the state – as 88% delta-9 THC when it comes to the sale and manufacture of hemp products.
Lukas Gilkey, CEO of Hometown Hero and driving force behind the Texas Hemp Business Council, which is the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit seeking to block some of the new hemp rules, told KUT that the ruling “is really going to impact the small stores.”
“If they have flower that qualifies under the rules, then they’re allowed to sell it. If they don’t, then theoretically, yes, they would have to stop.” — Gilkey to KUT
According to estimates by Whitney Economics and Robin Goldstein, director of the Cannabis Economics Group at the University of California Davis, smokeable hemp products account for well over half of the Texas market.
DSHS spokesperson Lara Anton told KUT that the agency “is still determining how to proceed” following the ruling “given that there is not a final disposition yet.”
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