Texas smokable hemp ban takes effect next week

Officials in Texas have certified that the code banning the retail sale and distribution of smokable hemp products has been approved and becomes effective Aug. 2.

The disputed measure, part of a larger hemp law signed by Gov. Greg Abbott last summer, enforces a ban on the manufacture, processing, distribution, or retail sale of consumable hemp products for smoking.

According to a notice posted Friday from Barbara Klein, general counsel for the Texas Department of State Health Services, legal counsel reviewed the adoption of the ban and “found it to be a valid exercise of the agency’s legal authority.”

The rule was passed despite thousands of industry members expressing opposition to the measure.

The Texas Hemp Industries Association last month asked the state health department to change the proposed rule banning smokable hemp sales, saying it goes beyond state and federal statutes, is an unfunded mandate and is unenforceable.