On March 31, the new Texas THC rules went into effect, banning smokable hemp across the state, only for a Travis County judge to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) that blocks the ban for two weeks until the petition for an injunction is heard and decided in court on April 23. Under the new rules, hemp-infused edibles and beverages would still be available, but would go through stricter testing and packaging requirements. Long story short, the Texas Department of State Health Services is back on their bullshit with a new interpretation of the definition of hemp.
What does it all mean? With the regulations from DSHS, we would see a new “total THC” standard in town, which would ban almost all THCA smokables being sold in stores. It also means that my stoner buddies have been blowing up my phone in panic and confusion in the past couple of weeks. We already survived the THC vape ban that took place in September. In preparation for March 31, stores rushed to offload their flower supply, and smokers stocked up.
Along with this change in rule comes a heightened fee for THC retailers and manufacturers. This could lead to massive losses for business owners in the industry, but defenders of the new rule are hopeful that it will have a positive effect on public health. Because of course, prohibition always works… right?
In the days after the ban first went into effect, I reached out to a couple of local business owners to see how they were faring. Hans Enriquez from LazyDaze responded, “As always, I am an optimist and truly believe common sense will prevail. We support all the freedom fighters, legal teams and good operators willing to make a stand, use their voices, and be heard. LazyDaze will use this opportunity to get better, tighten operations, improve the LazyDaze Coffeeshop experience, and come out of this stronger than ever. Watch out, here we come!” With the TRO in place, Enriquez may just be justified in his optimism.
From my bud-smoking community, trying to wrap its head around the new rules, I saw three kinds of responses:
1) I guess this is a good opportunity for a T-break
2) Time to stockpile as much flower as possible for the coming apocalypse
3) Maybe I’ll give drinks and gummies another chance
Lately I’ve been experimenting with alternatives to my usual evening joint on the balcony. Since I’ve been struggling with my sleep recently (I blame the pollen), I’ve been giving myself a cutoff point in the evening for THC and trying out the Tejas Tonic sleep gummies. One of these little cubes contains 20mg of CBD and 5mg of CBN. A word of warning: Don’t make the same mistake I did and assume that this dosage won’t have much of an effect on you because you’re a regular smoker. I boldly estimated that ingesting CBD and CBN would not have much impact on me at all compared to THC and after taking a whole gummy at 10pm, I almost didn’t make it to work the next morning. If you are struggling with your sleep, consider adding some CBD and CBN to your routine, but learn from my hubris and approach these little purple gummies with humility and respect.
On the weekends, I’ve been experimenting with microdosing using mainly the 1906 Bliss pills. The brand bills itself as “the world’s first smart cannabis” and specializes in low-dose, fast-acting supplements tailored to your needs: connection, energy, pain relief, and relaxation. After trying one on a weekend hike and enjoying the subtlety of 2mg THC combined with 5mg CBD, theobromine, and kanna, I reached out to 1906 co-founder and chairman Peter Barsoom with some questions about how the brand got started.
Barsoom describes himself as “a control freak with social anxiety.” He goes on, “For years, that was my secret. I had a system: two drinks before any social event, three if it was high-stakes. I told myself I was managing it. But control freaks keep score. I started noticing I was drinking more than I planned, more often than I intended. The thing I was using for control was taking it away. Cannabis could have been the answer, but traditional cannabis was even more unpredictable than alcohol. Edibles that took hours to hit, effects that were impossible to predict or dose. So I built what I needed. Every product decision at 1906 traces back to a single question: “What would a control freak need?”
As a control freak myself, this line of thinking makes sense to me and offers an accessible entry point for the cannabis-curious who may have been put off since that one brownie they tried in high school.
The brand name 1906 comes from the year the Pure Food and Drug Act was passed. “That was the last time Americans had legal access to plant-based remedies before Prohibition removed them,” Barsoom says. “We’re picking up where that era left off.”
A bit ironic, isn’t it?
Barsoom’s story about controlling his social anxiety with alcohol isn’t an unusual one. Neither is the relief he found in making the switch from alcohol to cannabis. Many people have similar stories of major improvements to their health and well-being after setting down the bottle and picking up the preroll. So why the focus on banning smokable hemp while Texans continue to access alcohol with ease? Drive through Downtown on I-35 and you’ll see massive billboards proudly sporting ads for major liquor brands. The dichotomy can be baffling.
Although the new ban was ostensibly created to support Texans’ public health and continue efforts to keep marijuana out of the hands of minors, many Texans count on reliable access to hemp to manage chronic pain, cope with social anxiety, and lessen symptoms of chronic illness.
Will this new ban succeed and will it actually discourage people from smoking weed, or will they simply return to getting their bud the old-fashioned way? Will the TRO turn into a bigger victory for the hemp industry on April 23?
That is the question.
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This article appears in April 17 • 2026.
