A bit sensationalist, because you can make the same argument for all other states which have produced legislation around the legal limit of THC in hemp. Most states are drawing from the federal legislation which denotes a limit of 0.3% of delta-9 THC. Testing is not expensive though it's not cheap (it's $200 in Oregon)[1]. I believe prosecutors are just complaining cause it makes their job harder. The price of testing will continue to come down, in fact there's a YCombinator company in the latest batch that has developed another testing method for field tests.
That said, I hope this leads to all states decriminalizing or fully legalizing marijuana. Regardless, when conservative grandparents are using and promoting CBD it is clear that hemp is here to stay.
Edit: There is some nuance to this [2]
[1] This is what we, Cascadia Blooms, pay in Oregon to test the crops fro our farm and you can see our test results at https://www.cascadiablooms.com/direct/store if you want to see the breakdown that comes from a typical test.
Despite it being the title for the article, I'd argue that the statement "Texas might have accidentally decriminalized marijuana" is entirely false.
All that's happened is that the threshold for successful prosecution has changed slightly - not even necessarily "been lowered", but "changed" - and the state's forensic labs aren't yet set up to deal with the new requirements.
People arrested now who fall under this gray area will likely be released without charges, but there is nothing at all stopping them from arresting them again and charging them next week/month/year when the labs catch up.
People in Texas must be smoking some bad stuff if people are getting released because they can't prove it's over or under .3% THC. But I bet they have the precision to determine anything worthy of smoking (for example, some california flowers test at 20+%) compared to hemp.
There's only one state sanctioned lab capable of showing "percentage" versus "some thc is present". The costs and wait are prohibitive relative to a misdemeanor charge.
It's a temporary situation, and some labs will eventually step in. But there are counties and cities right now just not enforcing (for smallish amounts). Which is unusual for Texas.
That said, I hope this leads to all states decriminalizing or fully legalizing marijuana. Regardless, when conservative grandparents are using and promoting CBD it is clear that hemp is here to stay.
Edit: There is some nuance to this [2]
[1] This is what we, Cascadia Blooms, pay in Oregon to test the crops fro our farm and you can see our test results at https://www.cascadiablooms.com/direct/store if you want to see the breakdown that comes from a typical test.
[2] https://hempindustrydaily.com/usda-national-thc-test-for-hem...