TEXAS — Despite a brief victory in court, hemp business owners went back to feeling frustrated after the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) filed an appeal.

Several hemp businesses and advocacy groups sued DSHS over what they call restrictive rules on the hemp industry. The rules, enforced on March 31, called for significant increases in licensing fees and changes to testing requirements, which effectively banned smokable hemp.

A temporary restraining order was granted, lifting the rules, and later, a temporary injunction was granted by a Travis County judge, continuing the pause on rule enforcement.

But DSHS appealed the ruling, and in doing so, smokable hemp, which includes products like joints, was banned again.

“To counteract this action, THBC filed something called a Rule 29.3 with the court of appeals this morning, asking the court to reinstate our temporary injunction while the State’s appeal is pending,” said the Texas Hemp Business Council (THBC) in a statement.

THBC was one of the plaintiffs in the temporary injunction hearing.

“Although our attorneys at Butler Snow anticipated this reaction by the State, it doesn’t make it any easier on any members of the industry. We are working as quickly as possible to resolve it,” the statement said.

Shortly after, though, a judge from the 15th Court of Appeals ordered the temporary injunction to stay while the case is being considered.

THBC touched on the confusion that has left hemp operators upset for months.

Zack Smith, owner of Happy Clouds in Central Texas, says back when hemp was introduced into the legal space with the passing of the 2018 Texas Farm Bill, he wasn’t entirely sure about bringing the crop into his stores.

“We were all a little bit skeptical and hesitant, but as things kind of unrolled, we were definitely on top of it,” Smith said. “My wife created her own CBD company.”

Milinda Hernandez Smith joined her husband’s operation and works heavily in keeping the stores compliant. However, she said since Senate Bill 3, a proposal to ban hemp, was thrown into the Texas Legislature last year, staying on top of active regulations has been difficult.

“A lot of us weren’t really involved as much in politics, and I feel like SB3 really helped small business owners become really involved with that,” she said.

“We had lots of customers coming in, buying up in bulk,” she said whenever news came out that hemp was coming off the shelves.

The fear-fueled bulk buying briefly stopped when Gov. Greg Abbott ultimately vetoed the bill, but what lay ahead was a month’s long agency rulemaking process, leaving hemp up in the air once more. 

Smith has had to pull products twice within the last 60 days. 

“The back and forth, day to day, week to week, is beyond frustrating. It’ll make someone go insane,” he said.

In an effort to keep their sanity, one hemp manufacturer and retailer near Houston, Tristan Taylor, put a pause on smokable hemp production until July. 

Taylor says staying in Texas, however, hasn’t proven to be a successful avenue. So, he’s moving one state over.  

“New Mexico is one of the friendliest business states for cannabis out of any in the United States,” said Taylor, the CEO of TayCo Farms. “Their laws are completely set in stone.”

Taylor has also experienced confusion and frustration when handling the legal challenges the hemp industry has posed. He looked back six years, saying that time was when the hemp industry was truly united and working together.

“2020, I would say you had the strongest sort of core in the industry, from big companies to small coalitions, all coming together,” Taylor said. 

In the meantime, operators like Smith point to large companies like Target introducing THC products in their stores, as originally reported by Bevnet, as a positive sign.

“They’re putting the products that we’re all afraid to stock in their hundreds of stores in Texas,” Smith said. “That leads me to believe that things are going to be okay.”