On September 17, 2020, Travis County Judge Lora Livingston ruled on a request for temporary injunction in a lawsuit filed by manufacturers and retailers of smokable hemp products in Texas.  The injunction sought to prevent the State from enforcing its new regulations banning the manufacture, processing, distribution, and retail sale of hemp for smoking.  The temporary injunction was partially granted, in that smokable hemp product businesses may carry on without facing penalties or fines under the status quo as it existed prior to the August 2nd effective date of the new rule – at least until the final trial on the merits set for February 1, 2021. 

Chelsie Spencer is a cannabis and hemp attorney helping to lead the charge to keep smokable Hemp here in Texas for retailers, growers, processors and of course consumers. She is a founding member of Ritter Spencer PLLC. Chelsie practices in the areas of medical marijuana and hemp, and represents clients across those industries for their business law and compliance needs.

Lisa Pittman is co-chair of the Cannabis Business Law practice with Coats Rose. A leader and authority in the cannabis industry, which includes state legal marijuana and federally legal hemp, Lisa was recently appointed to be a Nonresident Fellow at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy as a member of the Drug Policy Program. Lisa also was appointed to the Texas Department of Agriculture Industrial Hemp Advisory Council, a role that provides her insight and influence on the regulations for the Texas hemp program, with the goal of propelling Texas to be the preeminent producer of hemp in the United States.