San Antonio Police Department will see Texas begin banning several hemp-derived THC products on Friday, while delta-9 THC products with less than 0.3% THC by dry weight remain legal. The change reaches stores and people carrying the banned items at the same time, with jail time and fines available for possession of the prohibited products.
Sarah Todd of Texas Cannabis Policy Center called the change “a pretty big blow” and said, “It’s a pretty big blow, and it’s recriminalizing a lot of cannabis products that have been completely legal and allowable in the state for many years, so we’re taking steps backwards toward prohibition.” She is describing the loss of products that consumers and retailers had been able to buy under the earlier framework.
Texas Supreme Court ruling
The Texas Supreme Court issued a decision in May that allowed Texas Department of State Health Services to reclassify all hemp-derived THC except low-dose delta-9 THC as a schedule I drug. That ruling ended a 2021 injunction that had blocked enforcement of the new classification, after the courts had kept the products on shelves for years.
For stores, the immediate effect is not just a label change. Cannabis experts say Friday’s ban could remove more than half of the THC products from some shelves, because the ban reaches all synthetically created THC forms, including delta-8, delta-10, THCP and THCA flower. The products that survive the cutoff are delta-9 items with less than 0.3% THC by dry weight.
Delta-9 on Friday
That leaves a split market in Texas. Consumers can still buy intoxicating products if they contain legal amounts of delta-9, including delta-9 edibles, drinks and tinctures, even as other hemp-derived THC products are banned and reclassified as a schedule I drug.
Joao Mitchell, manager of ATX Organics and legislative director of Texas Cannabis Collective, said the weaker products have their own audience. “Delta-8 and delta-10 give a weaker high,” he said. That helps explain why the ban reaches more than a simple shelf cleanup: it removes the items some customers bought specifically because they were easier to find than traditional THC products.
Friday and after
The Friday change is the immediate line readers need to watch. Texas is drawing a legal boundary around hemp-derived THC based on the 0.3% delta-9 threshold, and that means shoppers will need to read labels closely before buying or carrying any product that resembles the banned forms.
