{"id":244151,"date":"2026-04-10T21:28:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T21:28:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/244151\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T21:28:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T21:28:14","slug":"texas-judge-pauses-new-rules-banning-hemp-products-like-smokable-thca-flower-amid-legal-challenge-from-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/244151\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Judge Pauses New Rules Banning Hemp Products Like Smokable THCA Flower Amid Legal Challenge From Industry"},"content":{"rendered":"

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<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis lawsuit is really based on a constitutional separation powers issue,\u201d 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 \u201cillegal rules.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHere we are today, with the regulators attempting to do what the legislators could not and did not do, and that\u2019s illegal,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThousands of people lose their products, their lifetime investments, their businesses, their jobs, everything they poured their heart and soul into,\u201d Snell said. \u201cThose are already going away and could be gone forever unless this illegal regulatory framework is stopped.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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 \u201ctotal delta-9 THC\u201d limit using a post-decarboxylation formula that includes tetrahydrocannabinolic acid (THCA) in the calculation.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The judge on Friday did not grant a restraining order on the new fees, however.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese measures do not implement the Legislature\u2019s policy choices; they replace them,\u201d the industry complaint says. \u201cAnd they do so against the backdrop of a constitutional lawmaking process that ran its full course\u2014from legislative passage of Senate Bill 3 through gubernatorial veto, through two failed special sessions\u2014and produced an unambiguous result: no new law. Texas law does not permit agencies to override that result through rulemaking.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTexas 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,\u201d it says. \u201cConsistent with that approach, Texas has chosen to permit and regulate the manufacture, distribution, and sale of consumable hemp products (\u201cCHPs\u201d) through a comprehensive statutory framework enacted by the Legislature in 2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlaintiffs support that framework and the State\u2019s interest in ensuring that CHPs are produced and sold safely, responsibly, and in compliance with law,\u201d the suit says.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Separately, Texas officials recently conditionally approved more new medical marijuana business licenses<\/a> as part of a law that\u2019s being implemented to significantly expand the state\u2019s cannabis program.<\/p>\n

Last month, Texas voters approved a marijuana legalization question<\/a>\u00a0that appeared on the state\u2019s Democratic primary ballot.<\/p>\n

A statewide poll released in February found that\u00a0Texas voters don\u2019t like how state leaders and lawmakers have handled marijuana and THC policy issues<\/a>. 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\u2019t have an opinion one way or another.<\/p>\n

A separate poll released last year found that\u00a0a plurality of Texas voters want the state\u2019s marijuana laws to be made \u201cless strict.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0And among the legislative items lawmakers considered during recent special sessions, voters say a proposal to address hemp regulations was among the least important.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the lieutenant governor and House speaker announced recently that the state will proceed with its own ibogaine research program<\/a>\u00a0after 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.<\/p>\n

Marijuana Moment is made possible with support from readers. If you rely on our cannabis advocacy journalism to stay informed, please consider a monthly Patreon pledge.<\/p>\n

\"Become<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Texas judge has issued a temporary restraining order preventing the enforcement of new state rules restricting access…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":244152,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1492,27,29,28],"class_list":["post-244151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-featured","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244151"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244151\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}