The governor of Texas is calling on the state Department of Public Safety (DPS) to escalate enforcement against smoke shops that are violating laws related to the sale of intoxicating hemp products, including a recently enacted emergency rule barring people under 21 from purchasing cannabis.
In a directive issued on Tuesday, Gov. Greg Abbott (R) ordered the Criminal Investigations Division (CID) of DPS to take a series of steps to ensure industry compliance with state hemp laws, including “targeted operations” to identify and inspect smoke and vape shops suspected of running afoul of the rules.
DPS CID agents would then be required to use information from those inspections to conduct “undercover operations to identify unlawful activity” and, when warranted, initiate criminal proceedings.
The public safety department’s crime lab will test products from shops under investigation to determine whether they meet the legal definition of hemp, which is cannabis containing no more than 0.3 percent THC by dry weight.
“DPS will leverage all federal and local law enforcement partnerships to further these investigations,” the governor’s office said in a press release.
“Texas will protect children from dangerous hemp products,” Abbott said. “Today, I directed the Texas Department of Public Safety to
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