Court order lets smokable hemp stay on shelves

Texas hemp businesses can keep selling cannabis flower and concentrates for now after a Travis County judge blocked key parts of the state's new hemp regulations while a lawsuit plays out.

Judge Daniella DeSeta Lyttle granted a temporary injunction Friday, stopping Texas health officials from enforcing a new "total delta-9 THC" standard that counted THCA toward the legal THC limit for consumable hemp products. THCA is a naturally occuring compound in cannabis that converts into Delta-9 when heated or smoked.

Delta-9 THC is the main psychoactive ingredient in cannabis. Under Texas law, hemp is a legal category of cannabis with no more than 0.3% Delta-9 by dry weight.

The judge also blocked certain restrictions on transporting hemp, sharply higher fees charged to businesses and a penalty structure that would have treated each day of some violations as a separate violation.

I spoke with Jason Snell, an attorney for the plaintiffs.

Read the story: https://www.kut.org/business/2026-05-01/austin-tx-hemp-cannabis-ruling-temporary-injunction-granted-thca Read the temporary injunction: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/28088657-hemp-case-temporary-injunction-050126/

Thumbnail photo by KUT's Patricia Lim

You can listen to day one of the hearing here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGvQYnioRo8 You can listen to day two of the hearing here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1Fy2kOMm0c