{"id":245922,"date":"2026-04-12T04:52:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T04:52:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/245922\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T04:52:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T04:52:12","slug":"texas-hemp-shops-celebrate-reprieve-after-court-halts-smokable-thc-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/245922\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas hemp shops celebrate reprieve after court halts smokable THC ban"},"content":{"rendered":"

Texas hemp retailers<\/a> are getting temporary relief after a judge blocked the state’s new ban on smokable THC products<\/a> \u2013 a rule that shop owners say threatened to wipe out large portions of their business.<\/p>\n

Shops across the state<\/a> began restocking shelves almost immediately after the ruling came down on Friday afternoon.<\/p>\n

“The fact that we have the flower back today is just crazy, and everybody’s so happy,” one employee told CBS News Texas.<\/p>\n

At Emerald Organics in Fort Worth<\/a>, staff said customers started returning within hours.<\/p>\n

“I’m just relieved. It has been such a stressful situation for all of us,” said employee Lydia Hendricks. “Seeing all of my favorite customers come back\u2026 I’m ecstatic.”<\/p>\n

Shops say the ban was devastating<\/p>\n

The temporary restraining order halts enforcement of the new rules for at least two weeks while a lawsuit filed by hemp businesses moves forward. Retailers say the ban forced them to pull 30-50% of their inventory, including some of their top\u2011selling products.<\/p>\n

“About 30% of our inventory had to go to storage,” said Jabarri Watson, general manager of The Weed Spot in Dallas’ Bishop Arts District.<\/p>\n

Watson said smokable products \u2013 including pre\u2011rolls \u2013 are among the industry’s biggest sellers because customers rely on the faster onset for pain relief and sleep.<\/p>\n

Shops report layoffs, uncertainty<\/p>\n

The owner of Emerald Organics said she furloughed more than half her staff during the uncertainty. Employees described the last week as emotionally draining.<\/p>\n

“It’s so scary wondering: Am I going to have a job next week?” one worker said. “This is a big sigh of relief for all of us.”<\/p>\n

New rules also raised licensing fees<\/p>\n

Even beyond the product ban, the state’s updated regulations dramatically increased licensing costs:<\/p>\n

Manufacturer fees: from just over $250 to $10,000Retail registrations: from $155 to $5,000<\/p>\n

Some shop owners say the price hikes alone could push smaller businesses out of the market.<\/p>\n

“It seems like they just want to kill the industry,” one retailer said.<\/p>\n

Others emphasized that customers rely on hemp products for far more than recreation.<\/p>\n

“People use cannabis for sleep, pain relief \u2013 a bunch of different things,” Watson said.<\/p>\n

What’s next<\/p>\n

The temporary restraining order remains in place for at least two weeks. A hearing on the lawsuit is scheduled for April 23.<\/p>\n

Hemp retailers say they plan to keep fighting.<\/p>\n

“We’re not going to just take no for an answer,” one employee said. “We’re going to be here as long as they let us.”<\/p>\n

\n More from CBS News\n <\/p>\n

In:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Texas hemp retailers are getting temporary relief after a judge blocked the state’s new ban on smokable THC…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":245923,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[430,27,29,293,28],"class_list":{"0":"post-245922","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-texas","8":"tag-north-texas","9":"tag-texas","10":"tag-texas-headlines","11":"tag-texas-legislature","12":"tag-texas-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245922","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=245922"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245922\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245923"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}