Dallas Hemp Shops Face a Reckoning as Texas Smokable Ban Kicks In

Since 2018, CBD Farmhouse has occupied a particular corner of Dallas's retail landscape—part dispensary, part neighborhood gathering point, part quiet act of faith in a fledgling industry. On Tuesday, the shop says goodbye. "We will be closing our doors at the end of this month on March 31st," the business wrote on a previous Instagram post. "There are not enough words to fully express how much this hurts."

New Texas Department of State Health Services regulations banning smokable hemp products take effect Tuesday (March 31), changing how THC content is measured by counting naturally occurring THCA toward the legal 0.3% threshold—a calculation that effectively outlaws the most popular products on dispensary shelves. Retail license fees jump from $155 to $5,000, and businesses caught selling noncompliant products face fines of $10,000 per day. "We didn't really have time to react," said Shan Claudio, CEO of Dallas Hemp Company, who told NBC 5 the regulations will erase roughly 30 percent of his revenue.

Down in Lower Greenville, MoonTaxi marked the occasion with a 20-percent-off clearance sale. "We built this with our families, with everybody that works here," Claudio said, holding back tears. His shop plans to stay open by pivoting to non-plant products. "It's not something that we like to think about," employee Guyton Sanders said. "But we have to."