WACO, Texas (KWTX) – CBD stores, smoke shops and convenience stores across Texas received a surprise from the state as the Texas made Delta-8, a commonly sold hemp product, illegal.
The Department of State Health Services updated the wording on its website indicating that its guidance for Schedule 1 Controlled Substances had been changed to include Delta-8.
Local Delta-8 retailers said the updated wording is not sufficient communication from the state to business owners being asked to make changes.
Diamond Dynasty CBD shop owner Joseph Gilbert said Delta-8 has become his most popular product.
“We stock anywhere between $3,000 to $5,000 of Delta-8 within a given month,” Gilbert said.
He said most of his customers are elderly people and veterans using Delta-8 to treat chronic pain, anxiety and even seizures.
Delta-8, no longer deemed illegal by the federal government, is less potent than Delta 9, the THC component in marijuana.
Current law, however, gives the state’s health commissioner the authority to reject federal drug regulations. The DSHS associate commissioner Stephen Pahl said the state was pushing to add Delta-8 to its list of illegal Schedule 1 controlled substances.
“Because there are other compounds, or deltas, or isomers, of THC that have pharmacological or psychoactive properties, Commissioner of Health opted to object, those schedules,” Pahl said.
Gilbert said he will continue selling Delta-8 products until he receives proper communication from the state.
Since the DSHS does not have enforcement capabilities, local law enforcement agencies are tasked with enforcing the change.
The Bell County Sheriff’s Office said while it will confiscate and charge anyone caught with Delta-8, it does not plan on seeking out individuals or businesses in possession.
Waco Police have a similar plan, according to the department spokesperson Garen Bynum.
“We’ll treat it just like we do with marijuana. We’ll still take those cases. It still gets confiscated,” Bynum said.
Waco Police said it has not received any directive from the state about what a business looking to get rid of now-illegal Delta-8 products should do.
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