Many CBD retailers are outraged after learning that the Texas Department of Health Services has declared Delta THC-8 illegal. Many were unaware that the department had deemed the whole category of THC a schedule 1 controlled substance derived from hemp.
The official change occurred last week after Health Services published the regulation in the Texas Register and went unnoticed at first, according to the Marijuana Moment. CBD retailers are now being forced to recheck their shelves to ensure the substance is not found in their products. Delta THC-8 is not illegal in most states and has been legal in Texas for the past two years until now.
On Wednesday, a hemp manufacturer in Austin took legal action, asking a judge to suspend the new law declaring Delta THC-8 illegal temporarily. A decision has yet to be announced. If a judge does choose to suspend the new law temporarily, the suspension would only occur for 14 days.
Attorney David Sergi created a petition opposing the new law change on behalf of the Texas Hemp Federation, per the Houston Chronicle.
“These recent developments have caught companies that sell hemp-derived products as well as their consumers off guard, immediately turning them into potential felons subject to arrest despite years of engaging in this same business without issue or law enforcement interference, and without having any knowledge of or intention to violate the law,” Sergi stated in the petition.
The petition states that the Texas Department of Health Services does not have the sole authority to determine what is a controlled substance. In the meantime, as objections against the law change play out, it is unclear how the state of Texas will enforce the law if retailers are found to be selling Delta THC-8.
