Overview
- A coalition of hemp retailers filed suit last Thursday in Travis County seeking a temporary restraining order to stop the Texas Department of State Health Services from enforcing rules that ban most hemp-derived THC variants.
- The DSHS rule, in effect since late July, treats any hemp product with more than 0.3% of any THC variant as illegal, not just delta-9 THC, and was enabled by a Texas Supreme Court decision this spring.
- Retailers report pulled inventory and steep fee hikes, with at least one San Antonio chain saying it removed more than $300,000 in products and filings citing industry-wide job and revenue losses in the tens of thousands and billions of dollars.
- Plaintiffs argue the agency exceeded its authority, claiming the rule unlawfully rewrites the 2019 Texas hemp law and conflicts with federal hemp protections, and they are pressing courts for emergency relief while multiple lawsuits proceed.
- DSHS has declined on-the-record comment and courts have so far left the rules enforceable, so businesses face higher licensing costs and potential criminal penalties under the Schedule I classification as litigation moves toward TRO and injunction hearings.