Well, Texas did it again. A federal judge just told a couple of hemp shop owners in Abilene,
“sorry folks, you’re on your own.”
Here’s what happened. Brennon and Brittany Manske run CBD House of Healing. Like a lot of
Texas hemp businesses, they’ve been trying to carve out a place in this messy, confusing market
since the 2018 Farm Bill supposedly made hemp products legal. They built their shop around
CBD and other hemp-derived products, kept their shelves stocked, and had customers who relied
on them.
Then, in August, Abilene police showed up with a search warrant. Officers raided the place and
walked out with roughly $400,000 worth of products. The Manskes say the raid was based on
misinformation, bad testing, and outright lies. They argue every single item taken was federally
legal hemp.
So they sued. They asked a federal judge to step in and order the city to give their inventory back
and stop any more raids. Because let’s be honest, when you lose nearly half a million dollars in
merchandise, it’s not just a setback. It is a death sentence for a small business.
But Judge James Wesley Hendrix said no. He ruled that it is not the federal court’s job to
interfere with ongoing state criminal proceedings. He called the request for a temporary
restraining order “an extraordinary remedy” and basically said, “come back when the state case
is over.” And in his view, financial loss does not count as irreparable harm. As for reputational
damage, the judge said that is speculative at best.
That is a tough pill to swallow. Imagine having your entire store cleaned out, customers left
wondering if you are even legitimate, and being told, “Don’t worry, you can fight it later.” By
then, later might be too late.
Now let’s talk about the so-called evidence. The raid relied on field kits from Safariland and lab
results from National Medical Services. Both have a reputation for overestimating THC levels.
These tests have been criticized for years. They are unreliable, inconsistent, and often flat-out
wrong. According to the lawsuit, one of the very officers involved in the raid even admitted the
tests were not solid while the raid was happening. Yet somehow, those results were enough to
justify wiping out a local business.
(Store Raids and Check ups by Law Enforcement have Increased in Recent Years as Lt. Gov Dan Patrick'sCrusade against Federally Legal Hemp Products were stepped up after the 89th Legislative Session began.)
And the Manskes are not alone. Another shop owner, Nate Shahbain, joined the lawsuit. He has
not been raided yet, but he is looking over his shoulder every day, wondering when it is his turn.
That is what this kind of enforcement does. It spreads fear through an entire industry.
This is the bigger problem: the disconnect between federal and state enforcement. The 2018
Farm Bill said hemp was legal if it contains less than 0.3 percent delta-9 THC. That should have
been clear. But in Texas, local police departments have taken it upon themselves to interpret and
enforce the rules however they see fit. We have seen it with smokable hemp bans. We have seen
it with THCA crackdowns. And now we are seeing it with raids based on junk science.
It creates a patchwork where your business can be perfectly legal on paper and still be treated
like a drug den if the wrong cop decides to test your products with the wrong kit. And let’s be
honest, if those kits were accurate, we would not have half the wrongful arrests and lawsuits we
have seen across the country.
So where does this leave the hemp industry in Texas? On shaky ground, as always. The judge
made it clear the Manskes will have to keep fighting in state court first. Their products stay
locked up in an evidence room, their shop struggles to stay open, and their customers are left
without access.
For the rest of the hemp retailers out there, the message is pretty clear: you are on your own.
Federal law will not save you. Local politics will steamroll you. And even if you can prove you
were right all along, by the time the courts sort it out, your business might not survive.
That is the reality of doing business in Texas right now. Hemp is legal, but only until someone
with a badge decides it is not.
