SAN ANTONIO \u2013 Is Delta-8 THC on its way out in Texas? And if it is, will other hemp-derived cannabinoids follow behind it?<\/p>\n
In the latest series of zigs and zags on hemp regulation, the Texas Supreme Court has paved the way for the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) to ban an alternative form of THC that helped kickstart the state\u2019s $5.5 billion consumable hemp industry.<\/p>\n
The 2018 U.S. Farm Bill and the 2019 Texas Farm Bill defined the difference between hemp and marijuana based on its concentration of Delta-9 THC \u2014 the form of THC traditionally associated with marijuana.<\/p>\n
This seemingly opened a loophole for the sale of other cannabinoids like Delta-8 THC, which can also give users a high, and the industry blossomed. <\/p>\n
However, the Texas Department of State Health Services effectively moved to ban Delta-8 in October 2021, stating on its website that state law allows consumable hemp products that don\u2019t exceed 0.3% Delta-9 THC, but \u201call other forms of THC, including Delta-8 in any concentration and Delta-9 exceeding 0.3%, are considered Schedule I controlled substances.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hemp businesses sued and were able to get a temporary injunction, which allowed Delta-8 products to remain on the shelves.<\/p>\n
On Friday, though, the Supreme Court overturned the injunction and noted the DSHS commissioner had \u201cbroad authority\u201d on amending the state\u2019s schedules of controlled substances.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe legislature has charged the commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services with primary responsibility for overseeing the civil schedules of controlled substances,\u201d Justice Evan Young wrote in Fridays\u2019 opinion<\/a>. \u201cThe statutory framework consciously, purposefully, and expressly authorizes her \u2014 indeed requires her \u2014 to undertake this task with a substantial and unusual degree of discretion.”<\/p>\n The agency\u2019s next steps are not clear, though. A spokeswoman said DSHS is still reviewing the ruling.<\/p>\n The Texas Hemp Business Council is also waiting to see what happens. Though the industry group was not part of the lawsuit, it has been watching it.<\/p>\n It also won a victory<\/a> in its own separate case Friday, getting a district court judge in Travis County to issue a temporary injunction<\/a> on rules that would affect the sale of many smokable hemp products due to a change in calculating the level of Delta-9 THC. <\/p>\n Executive Director Mark Bordas declined to speculate on the wider implications of the Supreme Court ruling.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, it remains to be seen, you know, as I was told by legal counsel when I asked them basically the same question, we\u2019re just going to have to watch it all play out,\u201d Bordas told KSAT. <\/p>\n The future of the state\u2019s hemp industry is hazy. Beyond the lawsuits over permitted products, the lieutenant governor and governor clashed in 2025<\/a> over whether to ban or regulate THC products, the state cracked down on THC vapes<\/a>, and there\u2019s now a looming federal ban<\/a> on intoxicating hemp set to begin in November. <\/p>\n Jackie Walji, who owns Mellow Monkey with her husband, said all the back and forth is \u201cpure chaos.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s put it on, take it off, put it on again, take off again,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd it\u2019s not good for customers\u2019 anxieties. It\u2019s not good for business owners\u2019 anxiety. And they need to have a clean cut what you want us to do so we can follow it.\u201d<\/p>\n Read also:<\/p>\n Copyright 2026 by KSAT – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN ANTONIO \u2013 Is Delta-8 THC on its way out in Texas? And if it is, will other…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":280826,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27604,3328,82,27,29,293,28,27605,51314],"class_list":["post-280825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-hemp","tag-marijuana","tag-san-antonio","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-legislature","tag-texas-news","tag-thc","tag-we-follow-through"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280825","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=280825"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280825\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/280826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}