Texas Officials File Revised Rule Banning Hemp THC Sales To People Under 21 As State Expands Medical Marijuana Program

Texas officials have released a revised proposed rule to ban the sale of
hemp THC products to people under 21.

After the governor issued an emergency order barring such sales, the Texas
Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) put forward temporary emergency rules
to codify the policy change—and now it’s planning to adopt an amended
regulation on the issue permanently after receiving public and stakeholder
input.

“If ultimately adopted, the rules proposed now will replace the emergency
rules,” TABC said in a notice published in the Texas Register on Friday.
“The proposed rules are intended to prevent minors from accessing and using
consumable hemp products (CHPs) that will negatively impact the health,
general welfare, and public safety of minors in Texas.”

The main components of the proposal would largely align with what they
initially implemented following Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R) emergency order,
with “some key changes,” the agency said. For example, TABC would be
permitted to suspend licenses, rather than outright cancel them, for
violations of the rule. That was among several contentions from
stakeholders who felt the temporary rules were excessively punitive.

The proposed rule also provides “a licensee or permittee a defense to an
enforcement action for failure to inspect proof of identification…if the
ultimate consumer or recipient of the CHP is 40 years of age or older.”

“For each year of the first five years the proposed rules are in effect,
[the head of TABC] expects that enforcing or administering the proposed
rules will have the public benefit of reducing minors’ access to, and use
of, CHPs and a corresponding reduction in the public harms associated with
such use,” the filing says.

As far as the license suspension provisions are concerned, regulators would
be empowered to put a pause on licenses for up to seven days for a first
violation, 14 days for a second violation, 30 days for a third violation
and institute a cancelation for “any subsequent violation.”

Those changes to the emergency order appear responsive to public feedback
that raised serious concerns about the inflexibility of the temporary rule
that seemed to put hemp sellers at disproportionate risk of being severely
penalized compared to other regulated industries.

Meanwhile, state officials with the Department of Public Safety (DPS)
separately conditionally approved nine new medical marijuana business
licenses last week as part of a law that’s being implemented to
significantly expand the state’s cannabis program.

The department will issue conditional licenses to three additional
dispensaries by April 2026.

This represents a major change to the program, as there are currently only
three dispensaries licensed to operate in Texas.

DPS in October adopted additional rules to increase the number of licensed
dispensaries, establishing security requirements for “satellite” locations
and authorizing the revocation of licenses for certain violations.


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These latest developments come after the Department of State Health
Services (DSHS) adopted rules allowing doctors to recommend new qualifying
conditions for cannabis patients and creating standards for allowable
low-THC inhalation devices.

Separately, a recent survey from a GOP pollster affiliated with President
Donald Trump found that Texas Democratic and Republican voters are unified
in their opposition to the hemp ban proposal.

The post Texas Officials File Revised Rule Banning Hemp THC Sales To People
Under 21 As State Expands Medical Marijuana Program appeared first on Marijuana
Moment.