Sign up for The Brief, our daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news. This is an updated version of an article that originally ran in Jan. 2020.
Since Texas lawmakers in 2019 legalized some forms of the cannabis plant but not others, marijuana prosecution cases around the state have been thrown into disarray, and enforcement can vary greatly depending on where you live.
A new Texas law sought to bring the state in line with a 2018 federal law that legalized hemp while keeping marijuana illegal. The result: widespread confusion.
Here’s how Texas law currently stands on marijuana and other cannabis-derived products.
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Hemp, marijuana, CBD and delta-8: What’s the difference?
Marijuana and hemp are often indistinguishable by look or smell because they both come from the cannabis plant. The difference amounts to how much of the psychoactive compound THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, they contain.
Marijuana is classified as a cannabis plant or its derivatives that have a THC concentration of more than 0.3%. If the substance has less THC, it’s considered hemp.
Cannabidiol, or CBD, is a nonpsychoactive compound of cannabis. Businesses may sell it throughout Texas as long as its THC concentration is less than 0.3%. Supporters claim it can alleviate conditions such as anxiety, depression and insomnia. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration hasn’t evaluated many of those claims and has approved only one CBD treatment so far, Epidiolex, to…