The Chronicle has reported often on the wholeass mess Texas has made of its cannabis laws and regulations since it finally took the plunge in 2019 to create a legal hemp industry in the state.
Both HB 1325 and the federal 2018 Farm Bill, which for the first time deemed low-THC hemp a legal agricultural commodity, include provisions intended to draw bright lines between legal and illegal cannabis production.
A group of retailers, with industry support, immediately and successfully sued to block that rule from taking effect, arguing as have their Delta-8 colleagues that the status quo marketplace is working just fine and that DSHS overstepped its bounds.
In the smokable hemp case, the plaintiffs noted that distinctions between product types – smoke, vape, tincture, edible, and more – no longer have much bearing in a cannabis industry that can produce all of these with different concentrations of different cannabinoids to meet consumer preferences.
Though the FDA cautions consumers that neither Delta-8 nor CBD products have been evaluated for safety or efficacy, and has issued a few warnings to firms making unfounded health claims, it “recognizes the potential opportunities that cannabis or cannabis-derived compounds may offer and acknowledges the significant interest in these possibilities,” according to its website.
A note to readers: Bold and uncensored, The Austin Chronicle has been Austin’s independent news source for almost 40 years, expressing the community’s political and environmental concerns and supporting its active cultural scene.