Sales of so-called THCA flower are back on in Texas for the near future after a state judge extended a temporary pause on a statewide ban that had taken effect March 31.
Ruling Friday in a lawsuit brought by companies in the state’s $5.5 billion hemp sector, Travis County Judge Daniella DeSeta Lyttle also temporarily struck down a new fee structure that many hemp operators said would force them out of business, Austin-based KUT reported.
Lyttle’s order is in effect pending the outcome of a July trial in the lawsuit, brought by the Texas Hemp Business Council and some licensed businesses.
Under Lyttle’s order, Texas health officials:
- Cannot enforce a new “total delta-9 THC” standard that included THCA, which becomes THC when heated
- Cannot collect greatly increased registration and licensing fees
Other rules remain in place. These include child-resistant packaging and an age requirement banning sales to people younger than 21.
The state is expected to appeal Lyttle’s decision, according to Houston Public Media.
Can Texas ban hemp THC and THCA flower sales?
Hemp-derived THC products are big business in Texas, where a massive hemp industry has emerged thanks in part to the 2018 Farm Bill and a restrictive medical cannabis program that until recently made THC impossible to obtain.
But despite a more permissive medical marijuana program that’s drawn attention from major national cannabis multistate operators, hemp isn’t going away quietly.
Lawmakers last year passed a ban on hemp-derived THC products, only for the hemp sector to be saved by a veto from Gov. Greg Abbott. After later lawmaking failed to create a coherent framework, Abbott issued an executive order directing that hemp in Texas be regulated more like alcohol.
That led to new regulations.
These included new annual fees – $5,000 per retail location and $10,000 per manufacturing facility – that were 33 and 40 times higher, respectively, than the prior rules for Texas’ 9,100 retail locations registered to sell consumable hemp products.
Is hemp-derived THC a threat to Texas medical marijuana?
The struggle over hemp in Texas comes amid a greatly expanded medical cannabis program.
One medical marijuana company, Texas Original Compassionate Cultivation, sided with the state and filed a brief asking Lyttle to keep THCA flower illegal, KUT reported.
“Hemp dispensaries across the state are selling illegal marijuana products mislabeled as ’hemp,’ with no medical oversight or safeguards,” Texas Original CEO Nico Richardson told KUT.
