AUSTIN, Texas, A state judge put the brakes on Texas’s new restrictions targeting hemp-derived products last week, issuing a temporary restraining order that blocks enforcement of rules that would have sharply limited consumer access to smokable THCA flower and similar products.

The order buys time for hemp businesses that were staring down a fast-approaching deadline. Smokable hemp has become one of the most contested product categories in the country, with state lawmakers and regulators increasingly nervous about high-potency products that look and act a lot like cannabis but move through a separate legal channel. Texas isn’t alone in trying to shut that door.

Still, the court’s intervention signals that the legal fight over these products is far from settled.

Across the country, state capitals have been busy this spring.

Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek signed legislation allowing patients to use medical cannabis inside hospices and other healthcare facilities. It’s a meaningful shift. Seriously ill people nearing end of life often rely on cannabis for pain management and comfort, and until now the rules governing care facilities made that access genuinely difficult. The bill removes a barrier that, frankly, should have come down years ago.

Hawaii’s Senate moved in a different direction, passing resolutions calling on Congress to federally legalize cannabis, support state-level conviction record clearing, and take concrete steps to fix the banking access problem that has plagued the industry since the beginning. Resolutions don’t carry the weight of law, but they send a signal. The Secure and Fair Enforcement Regulation Banking Act has been stuck in Congress for years, and cannabis businesses in states with legal programs still struggle to access basic financial services most industries take for granted.

A new poll dropped last week with numbers that should interest anyone who covers consumer attitudes: three out of five Americans support legalizing home cultivation of cannabis. What’s notable about that finding isn’t just the raw support number. It’s that a significant chunk of cannabis consumers said they’re worried about pesticides in the products they buy. Home cultivation, for those people, isn’t just about cost or convenience. It’s about knowing what’s in the plant.

That concern isn’t misplaced. Pesticide contamination in licensed cannabis has been a documented problem in California and other regulated markets. The Department of Cannabis Control has taken enforcement action against licensees over pesticide violations, but testing gaps and inconsistent oversight mean consumers don’t always have reliable information about what they’re actually buying.

The hemp industry’s internal reckoning got a sharp airing out this week too. Max Jackson of Cannabis Wise Guys published an op-ed arguing the hemp industry brought its current regulatory troubles on itself by flooding the market with highly potent products through what he called a “loophole” in federal law. His argument is that by pushing the limits of what hemp-derived intoxicants could be, the industry essentially invited the crackdowns now arriving at the state and federal level. It’s a tough argument to dismiss.

A federal judge in Rhode Island blocked the state’s Cannabis Control Commission from moving ahead with a license lottery while a legal challenge to residency rules plays out in court. A lawmaker said legislation is needed “to remedy this.” The residency question is one that’s come up repeatedly in social equity licensing debates, with applicants arguing that in-state residency requirements either help or hurt their chances depending on where they sit in the process.

In Illinois, a court heard arguments in what’s described as the final lawsuit challenging how regulators ran a social equity cannabis license lottery. A company in the case argued its odds were unfairly diluted by the inclusion of ineligible applicants. Illinois’s licensing saga has dragged through the courts for years. No resolution yet.

Cleveland’s city council is considering a proposal to let members direct a portion of cannabis tax revenue toward neighborhood projects in their own districts. Local officials in a lot of cities are still figuring out what to actually do with cannabis tax money once it arrives.

Reporting from Marijuana Moment contributed to this roundup.

The through line in all of this is pressure. On hemp. On hospice access. On banking. On licensing equity. The legal and regulatory structures built around cannabis in the United States are still under serious stress, and courts are playing an increasingly active role in deciding what the rules actually mean.