Seesaw Rulings on Texas’ Smokeable Hemp Ban is Confusing

By Paul Cobler, THE TEXAS TRIBUNE

  Some smoke shops say the flurry of court actions since March 31 has already forced them to scale back hours, cut staff and prepare to shut down.

  A statewide ban on the sale of smokeable hemp went into effect on March 31 under rules imposed by the public health agency. Smoke shops briefly pulled the products from their shelves until a Travis County district judge on April 10 temporarily lifted the ban until May 1 as a lawsuit by the hemp industry challenged the ban played out in court.

  Earlier this month, a judge ruled to extend the ban until the next hearing in the district courts, scheduled for July 27, but because the 15th Court of Appeals agreed to consider the state’s appeal, the ban was back in effect last Thursday. That ban only lasted for some hours — briefly forcing the products off store shelves again — until the appeals court last Thursday allowed the sale of the smokeable flower.

 The next ruling on whether the injunction will stand is expected in the coming weeks. If the appeals court blocks the injunction, the ban will remain in effect at least until the district court’s July 27 hearing.

 The Texas Hemp Business Council, Hemp Industry & Farmers of America, and several Texas-based dispensaries and manufacturers have been fighting the state’s new testing requirements that create a 0.3% total THC threshold that would effectively bar the sale of natural smokeable hemp products. The state also created a 3,000% increase in licensing fees for hemp retailers.