Attorney Steve Toland begins a series about marijuana laws in Texas, which are surprisingly confusing, mainly because there’s THC oil and THC infused products out there. Many of us get confused about what’s legal, what’s illegal, what’s a misdemeanor, what’s a felony.
There are many misconceptions out there. Here at the top 3 most common misconceptions:
1. We’re not aware of the difference between hemp and marijuana.
Marijuana is still illegal. Texas defines it as just that green leafy substance in and of itself. However, hemp is just like marijuana, but it has a THC component of 0.03%, or lower THC is tetrahydrocannabinol, THC for short. It’s the psychoactive component that gets a person high. And so Texas legislature and its infinite wisdom said hemp has such a low amount of that psychoactive component that gets you high, so we’re going to make that legal, while marijuana is still illegal.
2. The mass penalty range.
Many people are unaware that marijuana is still penalized the same based on its weight; four ounces or less is a misdemeanor. We’ll talk more about this later. Anything above that up to five pounds is a felony, but THC oil is very different. Even a thimble amount, the smallest amount, a gummy bear size amount of THC oil is a felony massive amount of difference. We’re going to dive into those details in later episodes of In Your Defense.
3. Jurisdictions in Texas are handling them very differently.
In some places, marijuana is not heavily criminalized. Sometimes it’s a ticketable offense, not arrestable anymore. And then in other jurisdictions in Texas, it’s handled just as seriously as it always has been. Same with vape pens, gummy bears, things like that. So it’s confusing, we understand.
So we’re going to talk more about that as we began to unfold THC oil-infused products and gummies and those kinds of things and marijuana over the next couple of episodes as always, if you have any questions about drugs at all, quantities amounts, marijuana charges. Reach out to me attorney Steve Toland or us here at Peek Law Group. We’re always glad to help.