THC Vape Ban
Sellers
are trimming their offerings while consumers are wondering what they can and can’t buy.
BY MARK HENRICKS
For years, Texans have been able to get vaping devices preloaded with THC and other hemp-derived cannabis products from their neighborhood smoke shop. No more. That ended Sep. 1 when a new state law banning THC vapes took effect. The same law banned sales of any vape devices made in China or marketed to minors, as well as other smoke shop items. Days later, Gov. Greg Abbott
METROPOLIS
signed an executive order halting THC product sales to minors.
The legal and regulatory tumult has hemp and vape sellers trimming their product offerings and consumers wondering what they can buy.
“Every day it feels like the game changes,” said Austin Zamhariri, store manager of Thrive Apothecary on South Main Street and executive director of the Texas Cannabis Collective, a nonprofit advocating for the state’s retailers and consumers.
Cannabis businesses welcome the ban on selling to minors. The vape device sale restrictions are a bigger deal. Vapes make up a substantial 24% of the typical cannabis retailer’s sales, according to a Whitney Economics analysis. Now they can’t sell China-made vape devices or any disposables containing THC. Kava, kratom, and mushroom vapes were also outlawed.
The bans apply only to sellers. Consumers can still legally possess THC-loaded vapes, but Texas sellers risk fines up to $4,000 and a year in jail for violations.
Texas cannabis users can likely order from other jurisdictions, but they may not be buying from a high-quality seller, said Cynthia Cabrera, continued on page 5 Thrive Apothecary: “Every day it feels like the game changes.”
chief strategy officer of Hometown Hero, an Austin maker of hemp products.
She added, “While consumers may attempt to order out of state, sellers and shippers can face legal risk if the product violates Texas statutes or the buyer is a minor.”
Texas escaped a total THC ban when the governor vetoed legislation that would have outlawed any THC product sales. THC consumers can still find and legally purchase edibles, flower, pouches, and tinctures.
“Their legality depends on the product’s cannabinoid content and how Texas defines and limits hemp-derived THC,” Cabrera said. “Some non-vape formats remain legal if they meet hemp and THC thresholds and labeling and testing rules.”
For example, non-heated THC inhalers appear to be exempt from the new legal ban. These deliver THC in aerosol form without burning or vaporizing and are legal for sale as long as they fit the other regulatory limits.
Heather Fazio, director of advocacy at Austin-based lobbyist Texas Cannabis Policy Center, said there could be another loophole. “I’m not an attorney, but my read of the bill is that you can’t sell preloaded vape devices. However, you can sell the vape device and the drops that go into it, and the person can load it themselves like they do with nicotine vapes.”
That doesn’t mean your local shop will recognize these possible workarounds. Thrive’s Zamhariri, for one, advises retailers that trying to skirt the letter of the law could bring down regulators’ wrath. “I would define any kind of vaporization product that involves distillate as a gray area. Be very careful with it.”
An illegal market for banned products seems one likely development. It could emerge online or through retailers operating in the black market. Industry spokespeople unanimously warn against buying from shady shops, warning about risks from impurities and labeling, among other concerns.
And although the recent state law changes penalize only resellers for violations, Zamhariri said consumers can’t be sure how local law enforcement will react if they get caught holding.
“Each jurisdiction — and there are 254 counties in Texas — has their own way of handling and assessing penalties and prosecuting marijuana cases,” Zamhariri said.
In Tarrant County, Zamhariri said, District Attorney Phil Sorrells takes a more relaxed approach than the previous D.A., Sharon Wilson. However, he’s heard of people in other jurisdictions facing Class B misdemeanor charges for possession.
Cannabis businesses generally welcome the ban on THC sales to minors. However, like most of the new restrictions, exactly how it will be enforced remains unclear. The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) is expected to release guidance on matters including how resellers must verify a customer’s age as 21 or older as soon as Sep. 24. The rest could take months.
Among other things, the Texas A&M University AgriLife Extension program is supposed to conduct a study to inform rulemaking by TABC and the state Department of Health and Human Services on the minor sale ban. Zamhariri is optimistic the study will be more good news, but it may not be out until next year.
And there are plausible scenarios that could go badly for the industry and for THC consumers. Fazio said one concern is a change in the way THC content is assessed. It’s conceivable that THC-A, a compound that when burned becomes the psychoactive THC-9, may be included when measuring whether a hemp-derived product has the permissible 0.3% THC-9 by dry weight. If that happens, Fazio said, “that’s going to mean most of the flower on the market won’t be legal anymore.”
Other future worries include a possible
increase in the retail shop license fee from $150 to $30,000. That came up in the last legislative session and, if enacted, would likely greatly reduce the number of retailers.
“We think there’s room to move up” on fees, Fazio said, “but not that much.”
If all this change seems confusing and exhausting, it might have been worse. The governor could have signed rather than vetoed the total THC ban that passed the Legislature earlier in the year.
And it may get worse, although cannabis businesses and users remain hopeful the news for the next few months will be acceptable, if not ideal.
“If all goes well,” Zamhariri said, “we’ll get 21 and up, we’ll get some focus on licensees and who’s the good and bad characters in the space, and they’ll compile a study in the interim that will help the Legislature decide how they want to proceed.” l
TO ALL INTERESTED PERSONS AND PARTIES:
Unifirst Corporation, has applied to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) for renewal of Air Quality Permit No. 135580, which would authorize continued operation of a Commercial Laundry Facility located at 2900 North Beach Street , Haltom City, Tarrant County, Texas 76111. Additional information concerning this application is contained in the public notice section of this newspaper.
Mea Culpa TCU opens
conference play with a road loss after squandering a 17-point second-quarter lead.
BY BUCK D. ELLIOTT
For all my gamblers, please accept my sincerest apologies for my confidence in TCU’s ability to win Friday night’s game. I invite you to send receipt of all gambling losses: care of Kendal Briles, at 3-1 Can’t Make Adjustments Lane, Fort Worth, TX. Friday was weird. Aside side from playing college football on a high-school night, Tempe received nearly 2 inches of rain from monsoon storms, which closed tailgates and nearly postponed the game entirely. The playing surface was exactly as you’d expect from real grass forced to grow in the desert: clinging to life. TCU athletes especially struggled for footing all night as grass broke off in chunks underneath their cleats. That said, the early sledding was smooth. The Frogs did nothing with their first drive — which, sadly, we’ve come to expect — but scored on their second. This was the result of what has been a solid connection between Josh Hoover (#10) and Jordan Dwyer (#7), plus rushes from Trent Battle (#6), who trotted to the end zone on a 13-yard scamper.
The Sun Devils followed up with a missed field goal (one of two misfires in the evening), and the Frogs scored again. ASU was optimistically aggressive during their next drive and tried a fourthdown conversion on their own 38, which Andy Avalos’ defense stonewalled, awarding Hoover and company a short field, which they weren’t able to convert for more than 3.
That’s when everything changed. It took the Devils only three plays to break a 57-yard reception for a touchdown, and from that point on, things just felt ominous, though the score looked fine at the time. I’m not sure if I was the only one, but the existential dread usually reserved for Sunday night before the work week washed over me full force: “We are about to blow this, and I know it.”
Eric McAlister (#1), who absolutely terrorized SMU the week before, attempted to play on Friday but quickly left the game due to an existing lower-body injury. Kevorian Barnes (#2) still has not returned after what appeared to be a hamstring strain against Abilene Christian. Those two players are the tip of the spear as it pertains to weapons for Hoover and Briles, and without them, it didn’t take the Arizonans long to adjust their defensive scheme to shut down TCU.
Football at its core is a game of allocating resources, and ASU didn’t have to overly commit to stymie the Frogs’ rushing attack after the first few series. In the end, the Frogs accumulated only 50 rushing yards through 15 attempts, with Battle and Jeremy Payne (#26) sharing the load. Once the
box score is adjusted for negative plays and sacks, the total was 12 yards from 24 attempts, but to be fair, there were six sacks to account for, so we’ll just call it “terrible” instead of “miserable.”
Through the air was better, I guess. Hoover tossed for 242 yards on 32 attempts but didn’t have a passing touchdown and was picked off twice, the final one to seal the game when a comeback was still technically possible. I won’t outright blame Hoover for having an awful game. It wasn’t his best. He coughed up the most un-clutch of fumbles on a sack late and threw a bad interception to finish, though his first INT was a ball wrestled from the hands of Dwyer, who was close to scoring.
The blame falls primarily on Briles, who still can’t design a run scheme to account for the personnel he actually has. If Hoover had the wheels of ASU quarterback Sam Leavitt (#10), things might work, but he doesn’t. Five linemen, who didn’t play well at all on Friday, trying to run-block four or five Sun Devils on stretch plays and inside zone just doesn’t work against a penetrating defense that doesn’t respect you. And there was no adjustment available because, schematically, the O is just bland and deficient.
With the run game out to lunch, that left Hoover to contend with seven in coverage while a solid pass rush collapsed his pocket repeatedly, without his most physically imposing receiver. With Barnes out, the Frogs’ backfield is average, and the offensive line is the same or worse, so it
is gritty despite deficiencies, and fans should have hope for the rest of the season, especially with how feisty purple defenders were in the red zone. Safety Bud Clark (#21) dropped an early interception that could have reasonably netted a touchdown or given the offense an additional opportunity before ASU had successfully adjusted their defensive scheme.
There were some ticky-tacky penalties that gave the Devils second chances when the game could have been swayed (though I mostly thought the officiating was decent). Frog defenders did recover a fumble and turned the Devils over on downs twice. Arizona State wide receiver Jordyn Tyson (#0 — a native of Allen) was too big during clutch moments and scored the tying touchdown on fourth down. Tyson, who might be the first receiver taken in the next draft and is a projected Top-5 pick, hauled in eight passes for 126 yards and two touchdowns, a McAlister-esque performance against the Frogs.
In many ways, the Sun Devils remind me of TCU from 2022: an extremely mobile quarterback and an NFL-bound wide receiver enjoy giving up early leads and battling from behind while leaving their fan base grasping for whiskey and baby aspirin but with a much better defense.
The Frogs understandably dropped out of the rankings this week with ASU essentially replacing them, and Fort Worth looks forward to hosting Coach Deion Sanders and the Colorado Buffaloes, who are coming off an almost identical loss to BYU. The Buffs built a 14-0 lead on the Cougars which was lost in less dramatic fashion but still a close 24-21 loss in which their offense turned stone cold and couldn’t convert during big moments. Both teams will be aching for a bounce-back win, but health will be paramount for the Frogs, both on the offensive line and with their two notably absent offensive weapons. To add insult to those injuries, while Hoover struggled with his worst game in a year, former Frog Chandler Morris was leading the Virginia Cavaliers to a monster upset of eighth-ranked Florida State just hours earlier.
might be time to include a sniffer-back, tight end, or additional blocking back if anything is going to happen in the ground game against a decent defense. And State has an objectively good one based on the evidence through four games.
Hoover did cobble together one more scoring drive thanks in part to spitfire Joseph Manjack IV (#14), who was the leading receiver with eight grabs and 83 yards. He also threw a 17-yard pass off a trick play and finished with double the quarterback rating of Hoover. Big tight end DJ Rogers (#0) was the second-best performer with four catches for 60 yards and the longest single reception of the evening.
The most telling statistic might be the number 3, which is how many yards the Frog offense netted in the fourth quarter while accounting for sacks and negative plays, as well as the quantity of turnovers lost. The 17-0 lead that the Frogs built late in the second quarter lasted until past the 2-minute timeout in the fourth, and the Devils didn’t take the lead until there were only 74 clicks left on the clock.
Defensively, this one is a quagmire. TCU gave up 500 yards exactly but were also cursed yet again by an unproductive offense possessing the ball 10 fewer minutes than their opponents. Leavitt could be rushed but rarely sacked, and he punished rushers who abandoned lanes on passing downs.
Despite unbridled productivity from the Sun Devils, allowing only 27 points off 500 yards
Hopefully, over the next eight days, Briles will focus on duct-taping a reliable running game together that Hoover can relinquish some pressure to, but he’s had two years, so I’m not holding my breath.
TCU opens as a 14.5-point favorite at home for Saturday night’s game, and I wouldn’t even consider taking the Frogs with a line that large. The most pressing question for these purple warriors is how they respond to adversity. Despite losing on Friday, the Frogs have trailed only by a combined 9 minutes and 13 seconds of game time this season. ASU was the first one-possession affair this squad has encountered, and they didn’t handle it well. But the momentum had swung away from them for almost two consecutive quarters. Overwhelmingly, we as fans should be most critical of how the coaching staff prepares to make better adjustments against the remainder of the schedule, which still sets up well for TCU as these types of losses tend to be less damaging earlier in the season.
Saturday night’s “blackout” is an evaluation of coaching and mindset. Oddsmakers really nailed the spread against Arizona State, and if they’re right about Colorado, TCU should be able to win comfortably, especially if Fort Worth fanatics want to feel good about anything remaining on the Frogs’ Big 12 slate. Hoover needs some confidence back, but that will come from improved offensive line play and a productive rushing attack. At Amon G. Carter at this point in the season, it’s time to find those things, or we could suffer a repeat of 2023’s five-win season. l
The Frogs will be looking for a bounce-back win against Colorado after suffering a last-minute road loss in Arizona last weekend.
Courtesy TCU Athletics
NIGHT & DAY
Caffeine & Basketball
CLASSIFIEDS
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
NOTICE OF RECEIPT OF APPLICATION AND INTENT TO OBTAIN AIR PERMIT (NORI) RENEWAL
PERMIT NUMBER 135580
APPLICATION. Unifirst Corporation, has applied to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) for renewal of Air Quality Permit Number 135580, which would authorize continued operation of a Commercial Laundry Facility located at 2900 North Beach Street, Haltom City, Tarrant County, Texas 76111. AVISO DE IDIOMA ALTERNATIVO. El aviso de idioma alternativo en espanol está disponible en https://www.tceq.texas.gov/permitting/air/newsourcereview/airpermits-pendingpermit. This link to an electronic map of the site or facility’s general location is provided as a public courtesy and not part of the application or notice. For exact location, refer to application. https://gisweb.tceq.texas.gov/LocationMapper/?marker=97.289853,32.801856&level=13. The existing facility is authorized to emit the following air contaminants: hazardous air pollutants and organic compounds.
This application was submitted to the TCEQ on September 11, 2025. The application will be available for viewing and copying at the TCEQ central office, TCEQ Dallas/Fort Worth regional office, and the Haltom City Library, 4809 Haltom Road, Haltom City, Tarrant County, Texas beginning the first day of publication of this notice. The facility’s compliance file, if any exists, is available for public review in the Dallas/Fort Worth regional office of the TCEQ. The application, including any updates, is available electronically at the following webpage: https://www.tceq.texas.gov/permitting/air/airpermit-applications-notices
The executive director has determined the application is administratively complete and will conduct a technical review of the application. Information in the application indicates that this permit renewal would not result in an increase in allowable emissions and would not result in the emission of an air contaminant not previously emitted. The TCEQ may act on this application without seeking further public comment or providing an opportunity for a contested case hearing if
You may submit public comments to the Office of the Chief Clerk at the address below. The TCEQ will consider all public comments in developing a final decision on the application and the executive director will prepare a response to those comments. Issues such as property values, noise, traffic safety, and zoning are outside of the TCEQ’s jurisdiction to address in the permit process.
OPPORTUNITY FOR A CONTESTED CASE HEARING. You may request a contested case hearing if you are a person who may be affected by emissions of air contaminants from the facility. If requesting a contested case hearing, you must submit the following: (1) your name (or for a group or association, an official representative), mailing address, daytime phone number; (2) applicant’s name and permit number; (3) the statement “[I/we] request a contested case hearing;” (4) a specific description of how you would be adversely affected by the application and air emissions from the facility in a way not common to the general public; (5) the location and distance of your property relative to the facility; (6) a description of how you use the property which may be impacted by the facility; and (7) a list of all disputed issues of fact that you submit during the comment period. If the request is made by a group or association, one or more members who have standing to request a hearing must be identified by name and physical address. The interests the group or association seeks to protect must also be identified. You may also submit your proposed adjustments to the application/permit which would satisfy your concerns.
The deadline to submit a request for a contested case hearing is 15 days after newspaper notice is published. If a request is timely filed, the deadline for requesting a contested case hearing will be extended to 30 days after mailing of the response to comments.
If any requests for a contested case hearing are timely filed, the Executive Director will forward the application and any requests for a contested case hearing to the Commissioners for their consideration at a scheduled Commission meeting. Unless the application is directly referred to a contested case hearing, the executive director will mail the response to comments along with notification of Commission meeting to everyone who submitted comments or is on the mailing list for this application. The Commission may only grant a request for a contested case hearing on issues the requestor submitted in their timely comments that were not subsequently withdrawn. If a hearing is granted, the subject of a hearing will be limited to disputed issues of fact or mixed questions of fact and law relating to relevant and material air quality concerns submitted during the comment period. Issues such as property values, noise, traffic safety, and zoning are outside of the Commission’s jurisdiction to address in this proceeding.
In addition to submitting public comments, you may ask to be placed on a mailing list for this application by sending a request to the Office of the Chief Clerk at the address below. Those on the mailing list will receive copies of future public notices (if any) mailed by the Office of the Chief Clerk for this application.
AGENCY CONTACTS AND INFORMATION. All public comments and requests must be submitted either electronically at www14.tceq.texas.gov/epic/eComment/, or in writing to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Office of the Chief Clerk, MC-105, P.O. Box 13087, Austin, Texas 78711-3087. Please be aware that any contact information you provide, including your name, phone number, email address and physical address will become part of the agency’s public record. For more information about the permitting process, please call the TCEQ Public Education Program, Toll Free, at 1-800-687-4040 www.tceq.texas.gov/goto/pep. Si desea información en Español, puede llamar al 1-800-687-4040. You can also view our website for public participation opportunities at www.tceq.texas.gov/goto/participation.
Further information may also be obtained from Unifirst Corporation, 2900 North Beach Street, Haltom City, Texas 76111-6203 or by calling Ms. Darcy Melzer, Environmental Compliance Specialist at (330) 858-8569.
Notice Issuance Date: September 18, 2025
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The following vehicle has been impounded with fees due to date by Sega Tow (VSF0576658) at 2711 S Riverside Dr, Fort Worth TX, 76104, 817-572-7775: 1972, Chevy PK Truck, VIN CKL147104963, $374.50.
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