The Bexar County Commissioners Court has authorized the purchase of equipment that will help crime labs differentiate between legal hemp and marijuana.

Federal lawmakers earlier this year decided legal hemp would be classified as anything that has up to a 0.3% psychoactive THC concentration and marijuana as anything above that amount.

Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales was one of the original six district attorneys who signed a pact stating they were placing low-level marijuana prosecutions on hold immediately following the legalization of hemp.

“The new law required us to prove the THC concentration in a substance that might either be marijuana or hemp, and it actually made impossible for us to prove that marijuana was actually marijuana,” Gonzales said.

Gonzales applauded county commissioners’ decision to approve over $100,000 dollars in funding to purchase lab equipment.

He said the equipment will be used to clear a backlog of felony drug kits that have built up since his office stopped all marijuana prosecutions.

Ryan Poppe can be reached at RPoppe@TPR.org and on Twitter at @RyanPoppe1.