The Bee Hippy Hemp Dispensary offers customers gummies and oils derived from hemp, the cannabis plant that — unlike marijuana — is legal under Texas and federal law. One of the most popular items: earthy greenish-brown nuggets known as THCA hemp flower, which some customers smoke.
“It helps them go to sleep,” dispensary owner Chris Fagan said. “And they use it for anxiety.”
For nearly two years, the Dallas-area shop operated out of an old 1950s gas station with nary a problem. So Fagan said he was stunned when Garland, Tex., police in June raided his home and the dispensary, even as he insisted that his products qualified as hemp, not marijuana. Still, Fagan was jailed briefly on suspicion of selling marijuana — which remains illegal for recreational use in Texas — and police issued a public safety warning that his products “can be dangerous.”
Fagan’s case underscores larger tensions over the legality and regulation of some products derived from hemp, which was legalized by Congress as part of the 2018 farm bill. While hemp