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Texas Judge Allows Smokable Hemp And Other Products To Be Sold, Blocking State Ban From Being Enforced

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3 weeks ago

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A Texas judge has issued a temporary injunction that continues to prevent state officials from enforcing the news Regulations restricting access to hemp-derived products such as THCA combustible flower. Meanwhile, the state Supreme Court in a separate case allows regulators to ban delta-8 THC.

Friday’s ruling by Judge Daniella DeSeta Lyttle follows another judge last month who issued a temporary restraining order on the ban on hemp products. According to the latest order, sales of hemp products can continue until at least July 27.

Decisions a a lawsuit filed by a coalition of hemp industry leaders and advocacy organizations The Department of State Health Services (DSHS) and the Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) have accused lawmakers of effectively circumventing the law. ban the sale and manufacture of certain hemp consumable products.

Under state law passed by the legislature and governor in 2019, the suit says cannabis products are legal if they contain no more than 0.3 percent delta-9 THC. But regulators at DSHS and HHSC recently approved a “total delta-9 THC” limit using a post-decarboxylation formula that includes tetrahydrocannabinolic acid (THCA) in the calculation.

Texas lawmakers passed legislation to severely restrict hemp products in the 2025 session, but Gov. Greg Abbott (R) vetoed it and did not make it into law.

Lyttle said Friday that the plaintiffs have established “a possible right to relief on the merits of their claims.”

“In the absence of injunction, plaintiffs will suffer immediate and continuing harm to their business operations, legal rights and economic interests,” he said. he wrote. “These damages include disruption of established supply chains, loss of market access, impairment of goodwill and customer relationships, and the risk of significant compliance costs and enforcement consequences under the rules that plaintiffs have proven invalid.”

The hemp industry lawsuit, which also lists Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) as a defendant, also calls into question large increases in business license fees that were approved by regulators. Under the new rules, the cost of a manufacturer’s license increased from $250 to $10,000 per facility, while the retailer registration fee increased from $150 to $5,000 per location.

While the judge who issued a temporary restraining order on the product restrictions last month did not grant a stay on the new fees, Lyttle included them within the scope of his temporary injunction.

“These measures do not impose policy choices of the Legislature; they supersede them,” says the initial complaint filed by plaintiffs Texas Hemp Business Council (THBC) and Hemp Industry & Farmers of America (HIFA). “And they do so against the backdrop of a constitutional legislative process that ran its entire course — from the legislative passage of Senate Bill 3 to the governor’s veto, two failed special sessions — and produced an ambiguous result: no new law. Texas law does not allow agencies to override that result through rulemaking.”

“Texas has long promoted itself as a national leader in economic growth and regulatory stability. It is a state committed to fostering innovation, supporting legitimate businesses, and maintaining a predictable legal environment in which businesses can operate and invest,” he says. “Consistent with that vision, Texas has chosen to authorize and regulate the manufacture, distribution and sale of consumable hemp products (‘CHP’) through a comprehensive statutory framework enacted by the Legislature in 2019.”

“Plaintiffs acknowledge this framework and the State’s interest in ensuring that CHPs are produced and sold in a safe, responsible and lawful manner,” the lawsuit states.

In a state Supreme Court ruling Friday, the justices overturned a lower court’s order that prevented regulators from treating delta-8 THC as a controlled substance.

“The companies that developed these products claim that the legislature opened up the market to them in 2019,” the court’s opinion says. “So when the commissioner sought to clarify that, in fact, the legislature had not clarified the potent levels of delta-8 THC manufactured in consumable hemp products, a group of businesses and consumers asked a court to rewrite the controlled substance schedules for him and the department, especially since the legislature legalized delta-8 THC in 2019 making the commissioner’s actions impossible and ultra vires.”

“The trial court granted that relief by way of a temporary injunction, which was affirmed by the appeals court. We now conclude that the lower courts exceeded their jurisdiction,” the justices said. find. “If the legislature wants to legalize powerful drugs, it has all the tools it needs to do so, and that is inevitable, as we expect such a big change in social policy. The role of the courts is simply to evaluate the state of the law as it stands.”

Separately, Texas officials conditionally approved more new medical marijuana business licenses As part of a law being implemented to significantly expand the state’s cannabis program.

A recent survey showed that Texas voters overwhelmingly support legalizing medical marijuana they still do not know, to a large extent, about the existing program.

in march Texas voters approved a question to legalize marijuana that showed up in the state’s Democratic primary voting.

Another statewide survey released in February found that Texas voters don’t like how state leaders and lawmakers have handled marijuana and THC policy issues. In the poll, many voters (40 percent) said they disapprove of how their elected officials have approached the issue, according to the poll. 29 percent said they approve of how cannabis issues have been handled, while 31 percent said they had no opinion either way.

A separate survey released last year proved this Many Texas voters want the state’s marijuana laws to be “less strict.” And among the issues examined by members of parliament in the last special sessions, the voters said that a proposal to deal with the regulation of hemp was one of the least important.

Meanwhile, the lieutenant governor and speaker of the House recently announced that the state will continue with their own ibogaine research program The drug companies did not submit proposals to meet the requirements and standards for receiving state funds under a recently passed law to begin clinical trials with the psychedelic.

Image courtesy of AnonMoos.

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TSA clarifies that cannabis policy has not changed

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22 hours ago

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May 24, 2026

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Over the past week, many news organizations have been running exaggerated headlines about a supposed change by the federal government to allow marijuana to be brought into airports and airplanes. But it’s not true, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) tells Marijuana Moment.

“TSA’s policy on medical marijuana has not changed,” a TSA spokeswoman said in an email Wednesday.

“According to the TSA website: If any illegal substance or evidence of criminal activity is found during the security screening, TSA will refer the matter to law enforcement,” they said. While it’s true that the agency’s list of medical marijuana “What can I bring?” section of its website was updated on April 27, there were no major changes in policy.

Currently, the website says “Yes,” passengers can carry medical marijuana in carry-on and checked bags with special instructions. But the TSA cannabis policy has said “Yes” to medical marijuana, with the same caveats, since 2019.

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Alabama Officials Move To Delay Automatic Rescheduling Of Marijuana Under State Law Following Trump’s Federal Move

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23 hours ago

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May 24, 2026

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“We’re not saying Alabama won’t do this. We’re definitely going to do this, but if you get it without objection, it’s scheduled right away.”

By Anna Barrett, Alabama Reflector

The governing body of the Alabama Department of Public Health voted Thursday against the federal rescheduling of marijuana, saying state health officials needed more time to determine how to implement it.

Dr. Scott Harris, Alabama’s top health official, told members of the state’s Public Health Commission that the state has “full intent” to implement the change.

“We’re not saying Alabama won’t do this,” Harris told the committee. “We’ll certainly do this, but if you get it without objection, it’s scheduled immediately. If you do nothing, it’s scheduled within 30 days. I’m going to ask you to take the third option, which is to oppose it. Then we just have a little time to figure this out with all our other stakeholders.”

The committee’s vote was unanimous. Brian Hale, ADPH’s legal director, said the objection would be open to public comment during the meeting. This period would last 30 to 60 days.

“The objection is simply to allow more time for input on the implications of this rescheduling,” Hale said. “There will be a public hearing, we’ll see the comments that way, and then we’ll talk to other stakeholders, licensing boards and others who might be affected to see what their input might be.”

In April, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) moved marijuana from Schedule I — the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) list of drugs with the least amount of abuse and legal use — to Schedule III, which, according to the DEA, drugs have a moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence. The order followed an executive order President Donald Trump signed in December to keep the DOJ on track to reschedule.

Former President Joe Biden ordered the DOJ to reschedule the drug in 2024, but hearings on the move were canceled in early 2025.

The federal mandate applies to medical marijuana products in states that allow the use of the drug. The move means those businesses can deduct business expenses from federal taxes and investigators have access to legal products in the state. As a Schedule I drug, only cannabis grown in a federal facility could be researched, greatly limiting the supply available to researchers.

Alabama has a medical cannabis program approved by the Legislature in 2021. A Montgomery The dispensary said last week it hopes to make medical marijuana available to patients soon. A message seeking comment from Vince Schillec, the dispensary’s owner, was left Thursday afternoon.

Harris said the reconsideration would not violate state law, but after speaking with the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission (AMCC), he was unsure how the reconsideration would affect the program.

“We’ve worked very hard to try to figure out what the ramifications of this are. There are a number of things that don’t completely conflict with state laws or other regulations, but they require some thought as to how to implement them,” Harris said.

Justin Aday, AMCC’s general counsel, said in a telephone interview that the commission does not foresee any immediate impact from the federal reorganization or a delay in the reorganization at the state level.

“We certainly understand the commission and the desire to gather additional information about the implications of the federal reorganization and what the implications would be, depending on how medical cannabis is scheduled at the state level,” Aday said. “We will certainly participate in that process as necessary, and we will provide all the information we can.”

This story was first published by the Alabama Reflector.

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New California emergency marijuana rules aim to help state businesses

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2 days ago

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May 23, 2026

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California officials are making additional reforms to help the state’s marijuana businesses take advantage of federal tax and other benefits under the Trump administration’s redistricting move.

Specifically, the Department of Cannabis Control (DCC) proposed emergency regulations on Monday to allow companies with current licenses that use both medical and adult marijuana to secure a secondary license through a simplified process to separate the segments of their operations, as federal planning changes currently only cover medical cannabis.

Under the DCC’s proposal, marijuana companies could “create a second entity and hold two separate licenses (one for adult use and one for medicinal use) on the same premises” under the expedited regulations.

“DCC is working to make this pathway available due to the timing and uncertainty of the federal process,” the department said. “Additional operational components (such as tracking and tracing requirements, local permitting, tax collection, and other implementation issues) are still being evaluated and will be addressed through future guidance or rulemaking as needed.”

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