Emergency rules take effect in Texas, restricting hemp intoxicant sales to adults over 21

Texas regulators have moved to restrict sales of intoxicating hemp products, but questions remain about how the rules will be applied across the state’s fragmented retail landscape.

The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) on Tuesday adopted an emergency rule that prohibits holders of liquor licenses from selling hemp-derived THC products to anyone under 21.

The measure was adopted in response to Gov. Greg Abbott’s directive earlier this month ordering stricter oversight of psychoactive hemp substances, which are made in the lab from CBD extracted from hemp flowers. Under the rule, retailers must check IDs at the point of sale, and enforcement is scheduled to begin October 1. Businesses that fail to comply could lose their alcohol license.

Narrow scope

The rule applies only to roughly 60,000 TABC licensees such as liquor stores, bars, and restaurants. Thousands of other outlets that sell intoxicating hemp — smoke shops, gas stations, online sellers — fall under the Department of State Health Services, which is expected to develop parallel rules. The TABC licenses more than 8,000 hemp retailers across Texas, with sales of intoxicating hemp products estimated in the billions of dollars annually.

Earlier attempts to address intoxicating hemp in the legislature centered on Senate Bill 6, which proposed eliminating all forms of THC in consumable hemp. Lawmakers’ failure to pass that measure left a regulatory vacuum that Abbott is now trying to fill by directing agencies to act through emergency rulemaking.

Patchwork controls

The latest move fits into a broader national struggle over how to regulate hemp-derived intoxicants such as delta-8, delta-10, HHC, and THCa. Abbott’s approach has leaned toward age restrictions, potency limits, packaging standards, and testing, modeled after rules for alcohol and tobacco. Whether Texas eventually enacts a comprehensive ban or builds a tighter regulatory framework, the effect on the state’s intoxicating hemp trade is likely to be sweeping.

Updates from other states:

Wisconsin: Republican lawmakers have introduced legislation that would redefine hemp to account for total THC and bar delta-8 and other synthetics, while CBD itself would remain legal. Municipalities including Milwaukee have already taken action, setting a 21+ age limit on such products.

Tennessee: A Kentucky company has filed suit over the Tennessee’s new licensing and oversight system for hemp-derived cannabinoid products, which shifts authority to the Alcoholic Beverage Commission and Department of Revenue. The new framework, set to take effect in 2026, bans synthetics and high-THCa products, imposes strict packaging and labeling rules, and limits sales to licensed outlets.

Kentucky: Fifty-eight hemp farmers across 20 counties sent a letter to Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell asking for a meeting and warning him against inserting language into legislation that could “criminalize” hemp-derived cannabinoids. They say that redefining legal hemp to ban or heavily restrict intoxicating compounds mid-season would have “immediate and catastrophic consequences” for farms, families, and rural communities.