The Texas hemp industry scored a victory on Monday after a judge ruled that state regulators would be temporarily prohibited from enforcing a ban against the sale of delta-8 THC products.<\/p>\n
The cannabis company Hometown Hero filed a suit against the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) late last month, arguing that it had improperly revised its hemp policy<\/a> to specifically prohibit products with more than trace amounts of forms of THC other than delta-9, the most commonly known psychoactive compound in cannabis.<\/p>\n While a different judge had initially rejected the plaintiffs\u2019 request<\/a> to have a temporary restraining order imposed on the state, Travis County Judge Jan Soifer ruled on Monday that they had adequately demonstrated that they\u2019re entitled to \u201cdeclaratory and injunctive relief\u201d over the hemp policy update.<\/p>\n\n The decision by DSHS means that plaintiffs \u201cwill suffer imminent and irreparable harm such as brand erosion, reputational damage, including loss of customers\u2019 goodwill, unsalvageable loss of nationwide customers, loss of market share, loss of marketing techniques, employee force reduction\u201d and more, the signed ruling states.<\/p>\n \u201cIn addition, Plaintiffs Darrell Suriff and David Walden, along with other similarly situated individual consumers throughout Texas, will have no effective treatment to anxiety, depression, insomnia, migraines, loss of appetite, chronic pain, and nausea,\u201d it continues. \u201cPlaintiffs, along with these other individuals, may be forced to seek other dangerous alternatives, like opioids or street drugs.\u201d<\/p>\n Stakeholders were caught off guard by DSHS\u2019s announcement of the delta-8 ban. Regulators made the decision back in September 2020\u2014and held a public hearing on the matter weeks later\u2014but businesses say they were not adequately notified and nobody ended up submitted testifying during a short public hearing. Witnesses testified in court on Friday that was because the update was uploaded to a state website as a non-searchable image, making it impossible for industry operators and advocates to be alerted to its existence through their usual means of monitoring policy activity.<\/p>\n The temporary injunction against the state will last through the end of the case. A final trial on the matter is scheduled for January 28, 2022.<\/p>\n \u201cYou are free to sell delta-8 in Texas, as of right now,\u201d Lukas Gilkey with Hometome Hero said in a video update on Monday. \u201cGo get \u2019em boys.\u201d<\/p>\n While advocates are celebrating the legal victory, they recognize that the fight isn\u2019t over yet.<\/p>\n Delta-8 THC has surged in popularity, particularly in states with more restrictive marijuana laws. It produces intoxicating effects similar to delta-9 THC, but it can be synthetically produced by converting CBD derived from hemp. The novelty of delta-8 products has left legal loopholes, which is likely why DSHS moved to broadly prohibit products with more than 0.3 percent of any type of THC in the first place.<\/p>\n At the federal level, delta-8 THC has also captured the attention of agencies like the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Regulators at those departments\u00a0recently issued warnings about products<\/a>\u00a0containing the cannabinoid, saying they\u2019ve seen a significant uptick in reported adverse health effects.<\/p>\n Hemp industry advocates have also touted recent comments from Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) representatives who\u2019ve responded to inquiries about delta-8 THC<\/a>. Officials with the federal agency have indicated to certain state regulators that only products containing more than 0.3 percent delta-9 THC is controlled, but the 2018 Farm Bill that legalized hemp does not explicitly ban THC isomers.<\/p>\n FDA also announced a plan this month to us\u00a0\u201cnovel\u201d data sources like Reddit<\/a>\u00a0to gain a better understanding of public health issues surrounding use of delta-8 THC and other cannabinoids such as CBD.<\/p>\n Back in Texas, the hemp industry has become familiarized with the court system as businesses have navigated the new law.<\/p>\n In the same district court where this new delta-8 THC lawsuit is taking place, a judge ruled in August<\/a>\u00a0that Texas\u2019s ban on the production and sale of smokable hemp products is unconstitutional.<\/p>\n Judge Lora Livingston ruled in favor of plaintiffs\u2014a group of hemp businesses who sued the DSHS over a ban on the manufacturing and selling of smokable cannabis products it imposed after the crop was legalized.<\/p>\n An appeals court had previously modified a prior injunction and determined that regulators\u00a0couldn\u2019t enforce a ban on the sales component<\/a>\u00a0of the smokable hemp market. But following the August ruling, there\u2019s a permanent injunction that bars the state from prohibiting the full range of hemp activity.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Texas activists are working to enact local reforms on marijuana.<\/p>\n Advocates in San Marcos, Texas recently launched a campaign to\u00a0put marijuana decriminalization on the local ballot<\/a>\u00a0in 2022.<\/p>\n Just to the north of San Marcos, a separate campaign attempted to\u00a0put cannabis decriminalization on Austin\u2019s ballot this November<\/a>, but activists have since shifted their strategy toward putting the measure in front of voters on the May 2022 ballot. They will also target additional cities next November.<\/p>\n There is no statewide, citizen-led initiative process that would enable advocates to put an issue like decriminalization or legalization on the Texas ballot. But at the local level, there are limited cases where activists can leverage home rule laws that allow for policy changes.<\/p>\n A strong majority of Texans back even broader reform, according to recent polling. Sixty percent of voters in the state\u00a0support making cannabis legal \u201cfor any use,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0signaling that local initiatives for more modest proposals like decriminalization will likely prevail where they qualify for local ballots.<\/p>\n This year\u2019s legislative session in Texas saw numerous drug policy proposals advance, with bills to\u00a0expand the state\u2019s medical cannabis program<\/a>\u00a0and require a study into\u00a0the therapeutic potential of certain psychedelics<\/a>\u00a0for military veterans having been enacted.<\/p>\n Advocates remain disappointed, however, that lawmakers were\u00a0unable to pass more expansive cannabis bills<\/a>\u2014including a decriminalization proposal that cleared the House but saw no action in the Senate.<\/p>\n The\u00a0House approved a cannabis decriminalization bill<\/a>\u00a0in 2019,\u00a0but it did not advance<\/a>\u00a0in the Senate that session.<\/p>\n Read the Texas judge\u2019s new ruling in the delta-8 THC case below:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n Click to access sky-marketing-v-tdshs-ti-executed.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n South Dakota Marijuana Activists Delay Legalization Signature Delivery After Missing Initial Deadline<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Brendan Cleak.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Texas Judge Temporarily Blocks State From Enforcing Delta-8 THC Hemp Product Ban<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The Texas hemp industry scored a victory on Monday after a judge ruled that state regulators would be temporarily prohibited from enforcing a ban against the sale of delta-8 THC products. The cannabis company Hometown Hero filed a suit against the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) late lastContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51026"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51026"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51026\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51027,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51026\/revisions\/51027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: Texas Judge Temporarily Blocks State From Enforcing Delta-8 THC Hemp Product Ban<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"