Austin American Statesman – ‘The devil is in the dose’: Texas hemp sellers challenge state’s delta-8 rules

Here’s the link to the article (paywall)

‘The devil is in the dose’: Texas hemp sellers challenge state’s delta-8 rules

https://www.statesman.com/business/article/texas-hemp-delta-8-trace-rule-lawsuit-22505282.php?utm_source=policy_decoded&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=you-campaign-in-poetry-you-govern-in-prose

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Frustrated purveyors of what they say were once legal hemp-based products sought to apply a scientific lens in their court fight to freeze Texas rules they say effectively bar the sale of items with anything but trace amounts of naturally occurring delta-8 THC.

Andrea Holmes, a chemistry professor and expert on cannabinoids at Doane University in Nebraska, testified that the state’s use of the term “trace” was ambiguous and needs to be defined.

“The devil is in the dose,” she said.

Holmes spoke of the complexity of testing the products and said the vagueness of the Texas terminology causes insecurity in the supply chain for companies trying to sell cannabinoid-based products.

The hearing stemmed from a lawsuit filed by a group including wholesalers, storefronts and cultivators in an industry that was once valued at $5 billion in Texas.

But new state rules that defined concentrated, manufactured delta-8 THC products as Schedule I controlled substances went into effect this year. In July, the Texas Department of State Health Services said only hemp products containing trace amounts of naturally occurring delta-8 THC could be legally sold.

The businesses argued the state rushed to shut down the market for delta-8 without establishing validated methods to test products for legality.

The resulting landscape, they say, has rendered them unable to sell the hemp-derived cannabinoid products, including edibles, pain reduction tinctures, vapes and other products that they believe are legal. They say that has left their products vulnerable to seizure and their employees to arrest.

Holmes presented examples showing how different labs could find different levels of the substance with different equipment and different volumes of the product tested.

“We need more detailed guidance,” she said, advocating for a numerical value in the rules rather than the current “trace” standard.

Joel Thompson testified that his company, The Hemp Collect, a North Carolina-based manufacturer of hemp and cannabinoid products, stopped or sharply reduced sales of its edible products by roughly one-third in Texas because of the uncertainty. He said his company has sought clarity from the state with little response. One request for information about how to comply with the current regulations took 60 days to receive a response. Others have received none.

“We sent a message to DSHS asking for explicit guidance on how we can best comply,” he said.