Texas is about to Thanos-snap a big chunk of what’s sitting on hemp shop shelves.
Thanks to a rules shift taking effect on Tuesday, products that were legal yesterday are suddenly failing the test, sending retailers and THC fans into a tailspin.
The Texas Department of State Health Services is now enforcing a stricter THC limit of 0.3%, calculated by factoring in THCA after it’s heated.
That last part is the sticky point. Because THCA converts into Delta-9 THC, many smokable products that once passed, like pre-rolls and loose flower, no longer qualify and are set to disappear from shelves overnight.
Some shops have been holding clearance sales to move inventory before the deadline.
The nonprofit advocacy group Texas Cannabis Collective posted on X that the change ensures “massive profits to New Mexico, Colorado, and Missouri.”
“Overnight Texas will reestablish the biggest cannabis black market in the country and cannabis arrests will once again skyrocket to lead the US,” they wrote.
As you might imagine, lots of folks were not pleased.
X poster Zaven Austin wrote: “Lt. Gov Dan Patrick would rather see drug dealers on the street and not stoners eating pizza.”
Also on X, Texas resident Susan Joliver wrote: “I hate this. I have 20 vet friends that will now have to overpay and go back to buying in dangerous situations just to get some pain relief. This is insanity.”
Another Texan, David Burton, posted that Texas is “going backwards instead of cashing in on all the taxes generated by legal sales.”
“Did the state legislature decide they hate making tons of money?” he wrote.
The rules took effect less than a year after THC dominated debate at the Texas Capitol, where lawmakers passed a full ban on all THC products, only for Gov. Greg Abbott to veto it at the last minute.
Shop owners say the impact of this week’s change could be immediate and severe. Todd Harris, co-owner of an Austin store and a leader with the Texas Hemp Business Council, told The Dallas Morning News that products targeted by the rules make up about 70% of his sales.
On top of that, businesses face sharply higher licensing costs, with some saying fees could jump from hundreds of dollars to tens of thousands.
“We’re going from under $600 to about $20,000,” Harris said. “That’s a pretty terrifying number to encounter as a small business.”
