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This Bud’s NOT for You

Written by texashempreporter on . Posted in Legislative. No Comments on This Bud’s NOT for You

 

Sorry Texas: This Bud’s NOT for You

How the Lone Star State Went From Hemp Leader to Hemp Prohibition

For a brief moment, Texas stood at the forefront of the hemp revolution.

When House Bill 1325 became law in 2019, thousands of entrepreneurs, farmers, manufacturers, distributors, and retailers invested millions of dollars into a legal hemp marketplace built around federal law. Consumers embraced CBD, Delta-8, THCA flower, hemp-derived concentrates, beverages, gummies, and smokable products. What emerged was one of the nation’s largest hemp industries—supporting thousands of Texas jobs and generating significant tax revenue.

Fast forward to today, and much of that industry has been turned upside down.

As of July 31, 2026, enforcement of new Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) rules, backed by the Texas Supreme Court’s decision earlier this year, has dramatically changed the legal landscape for hemp-derived cannabinoids. Products that many retailers openly sold for years—including Delta-8, Delta-10, THCA flower, numerous concentrates, and many smokable hemp products—are now prohibited or subject to criminal enforcement under state law. Law enforcement agencies across Texas have already begun enforcing these changes.

The Great Hemp Reversal

Ironically, Governor Greg Abbott’s veto of Senate Bill 3 last year gave many Texans hope.

The governor argued that an outright legislative ban was too broad and instead called for a regulatory framework focused on testing, age restrictions, licensing, and consumer safety rather than prohibition. Many in the hemp industry believed a compromise was still possible.

Instead, the end result has been that many of the products Texans had legally purchased for years have effectively disappeared from store shelves through court decisions and administrative rulemaking.

For retailers, the distinction hardly matters.

The outcome is the same.

Retailers Left Holding the Bag

Across Texas, smoke shops, CBD stores, wellness boutiques, and independent retailers invested heavily in inventory, equipment, marketing, and employees based upon laws they believed allowed hemp-derived products.

Now many of those same business owners face difficult decisions.

Some have removed entire product categories overnight.

Others have closed locations.

Many have laid off employees.

Consumers who relied on hemp-derived products for relaxation, sleep, discomfort, or as alternatives to higher-risk substances suddenly have far fewer legal options.

Sorry Texas…

Want THCA flower?

Sorry Texas. This bud’s not for you.

Looking for Delta-8 gummies?

Sorry Texas.

Need a hemp vape?

Not anymore.

Concentrates?

Forget it.

Smokable hemp flower?

Gone.

What was once one of America’s fastest-growing hemp markets has rapidly become one of its most restrictive.

A Growing Divide

The timing is especially striking.

While Texas tightens restrictions, numerous other states continue expanding regulated cannabis and hemp markets, generating billions in economic activity, creating jobs, and collecting tax revenue.

Texas, meanwhile, has chosen a different path.

Supporters of the new restrictions argue the changes protect public health, prevent youth access, and close loopholes that allowed intoxicating hemp products to flourish.

Critics counter that prohibition rarely eliminates demand. Instead, they argue, it pushes consumers toward illicit markets while hurting legitimate businesses that followed the law as it existed.

That debate is unlikely to end anytime soon.

What’s Next?

The story isn’t over.

The federal hemp landscape will continue to evolve, Congress faces additional decisions regarding hemp policy, and legal challenges and legislative proposals are expected to continue.

For now, however, one thing is clear:

Thousands of Texas hemp businesses are navigating one of the most significant regulatory shifts since hemp was legalized in 2019.

Whether this represents the beginning of a safer marketplace—or the dismantling of an entire Texas industry—will be debated for years to come.

But for many retailers and consumers walking into their favorite hemp shop today, the message feels painfully simple:

Sorry Texas… This Bud’s NOT for You.

 

 

 

Editor’s Note: This article reflects the current regulatory environment following the July 31, 2026 implementation of DSHS rules and subsequent enforcement. It is intended as news analysis and does not constitute legal advice. Retailers and consumers should consult qualified legal counsel regarding the application of Texas law to specific products or circumstances.

Texas Supreme Court Bans Manufacture of Smokeable Hemp

Written by Cameron Field on . Posted in Legislative.

Today, in a unanimous decision, the Texas Supreme Court held that the Texas Constitution does not protect an individual’s right to process and manufacture smokeable hemp products, and therefore upheld two 2019 laws that prohibits the processing and manufacture of smokeable hemp in Texas.  Texas Dep’t of State Health Services and John Hellerstedt v. Crown Distribution LLC e. al, No. 21-1045; 25 Tex. Admin. Code § 300.104; Tex. Health & Safety Code § 443.204(4).  

Importantly, the Decision does not ban the “distribution” or “retail sale” of smokeable hemp products, actions which had previously been banned by the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS).  A trial court enjoined the provisions of the law related to distribution and retail sale, and the state declined to continue its defense of those provisions in its appeal to the Texas Supreme Court.  Therefore today’s Texas Supreme Court decision leaves the trial courts injunction intact. 

Overall, the decision is a significant blow to the hemp industry in Texas, and a glaring reality check as a new legislative session looms, and another Texas Supreme Court case on the legality of Delta-8 THC is expected any day. 

The lawsuit decided today by the Texas Supreme Court stemmed from Texas’s first hemp legalization bill in 2019.  When Texas established a hemp production program through HB 1325, the law specifically prohibited “the processing or manufacturing of a consumable hemp product for smoking.” Tex. Admin. Code Title 25, § 443.204(4) (emphasis added).  “Smoking” was broadly defined to essentially prohibit the processing or manufacture of any sort of hemp vape devices or prerolls in Texas. Tex. Health & Safety Code § 443.001(11).  The law also directed the Texas Department of State Health Services (“DSHS”) to promulgate rules to govern the consumable hemp industry.  DSHS initially went two steps further than the Legislature’s smoking ban and further prohibited both the distribution and retail sale of smokeable hemp products in Texas—those provisions remain enjoined and unenforceable.   § 300.104. 

Hemp retailers, distributors, and manufacturers challenged the smokeable hemp prohibition in 2020 in Crown Distributing LLC et al. v. Texas Dep’t of State Health Services and John Hellerstedt.  The hemp company plaintiffs submitted a petition on August 5, 2020 for a temporary restraining order, temporary injunction, and permanent injunction—the impact of which would effectively prohibit the State from enforcing the smokeable ban. A Travis County trial court issued a temporary injunction prohibiting the State from enforcing the smokeable hemp ban on September 18, 2020.  The State appealed the injunction.  The Court of Appeals affirmed the injunction in part, reversed in part, and remanded the case back to the trial court in Travis County.  

Delta 8 Texas

Following a trial on the merits in Travis County, on November 16, 2021 the trial court declared the statutory smokeable ban unconstitutional and therefore the entire DSHS rule to be invalid.  The court enjoined DSHS from enforcing the statute or rule that created the smokeable hemp prohibition.  However, on December 3, 2021, the state again appealed the case, this time directly to the Texas Supreme Court, which can be done when a trial court issues a ruling on the constitutionality of a law, as was the case in Crown Distributing.  

At the Supreme Court, the state stopped defending the portions of the law that dealt with “distribution” and “retail sale,” but continued to defend the prohibition on manufacturing and processing.  The hemp companies asserted the law violated a section of the Texas Constitution which reads that “[n]o citizen of this State shall be deprived of life, liberty, property, privileges or immunities, or in any manner disenfranchised, except by the due course of the law of the land.” Tex. Const. art. I, § 19.  The companies argued the smokeable hemp prohibition was a violation of the guarantees of art. I, § 19 of the Texas Constitution, but the court did not agree.  The court ultimately found that the legislature’s decision to adopt a new framework of regulations for cannabis in the 2019 hemp bill does not transform the hemp companies’ desire to produce smokeable hemp products into a constitutionally protected interest.

While this decision will unlikely slow the growth of sales of smokeable hemp products in the state, it will guarantee that businesses who make such products in Texas will need to shut down their manufacturing operations, and out of state businesses looking to establish manufacturing operations in Texas will now look elsewhere.  The decision and law also generally paint Texas as not-friendly to the hemp industry, which will likely stop an unknown number of companies from expanding or growing their operations in Texas, and therefore deprive Texas of the potential jobs and tax revenue those companies will provide. 

The industry will likely have a knee jerk reaction against the Texas Supreme Court for this decision, but the decision is a legal analysis of a law passed by the legislature and DSHS.  Delta-8 will likely be dealt a similar blow by the courts in the coming weeks.  The industry’s frustration and efforts need to be directed toward the legislature and DSHS authorities that continue to pass rules that hamper rather than support the hemp industry.  

Cameron Field is Senior Counsel and Co-Leader of the Cannabis Industry Group at the Law Firm of Michael Best & Friedrich LLP in Austin, TX.