If you were waiting for a judge to hit pause on the hemp crackdown, this month has been a rough watch.
Virginia: the deadline held
On August 15, Virginia's HB 30 took effect. No hemp product sold in the state may now contain more than 2 milligrams of total THC per package, and the old 25:1 CBD-to-THC ratio exception - the workaround that kept most gummies and drinks on shelves - is gone.
Seven Virginia hemp businesses asked U.S. District Judge Robert S. Ballou to block it. He declined, granting neither a temporary restraining order nor a preliminary injunction. He agreed the owners would likely face severe financial losses. He did not agree that qualifies as irreparable harm, reasoning that operators in a fast-moving industry should have expected regulatory adjustments.
Texas: round two
Texas has been running the same play with worse odds. After the state Supreme Court cleared the way in May, the Department of State Health Services listed every hemp-derived THC except low-dose delta-9 as Schedule I, effective July 31 - taking delta-8, delta-10, THCP and THCA flower off shelves. A federal judge rejected an emergency motion to halt it on August 10.
On August 20, four retailers filed a second federal suit, this one in the Western District of Texas, seeking a restraining order. Their argument: DSHS rewrote statute by agency fiat, in conflict with the 2018 Farm Bill, and effectively handed a monopoly to the state's medical marijuana program. Their damage claim runs to more than 36,000 jobs lost and retail sales down by half.
The pattern worth noticing
Two states, three motions, zero injunctions. Courts have so far treated lost hemp revenue as the ordinary cost of operating in a category whose rules were always provisional - which is a hard thing to hear if you signed a lease on one.
South Carolina is party to neither case and still has no state hemp framework of its own after H.3924 died in the House in June. The date that matters here remains federal: the Section 781 total-THC redefinition lands November 12, unless the House signs off on the Senate's stopgap pushing it to December 11. The House returns August 31.
Sources
- WDBJ7 - Judge refuses to delay Virginia hemp law (Aug 14, 2026)
- Insurance Journal - Hemp Industry Sues Texas Over THC Ban, Claiming State Monopoly (Aug 21, 2026)
- Texas Tribune - Texas THC ban continues as federal judge rejects emergency motion (Aug 10, 2026)
- Texas Tribune - What is still legal under Texas' latest THC ban (Jul 30, 2026)
- Congressional Research Service - Change to the Federal Definition of Hemp
- SC Statehouse - H.3924 status
Educational content, not legal advice. Laws change - verify with official sources.
