It might be tempting to conclude Texas decriminalized marijuana on June 10 when state lawmakers passed a bill that inadvertently made it nearly impossible for law enforcement to prove pot is actually pot.

Marijuana in recreational form is still very much illegal in this deeply conservative state, with little reason to believe that'll change anytime soon. But the legal consequences for getting caught with pot just went up in a huge cloud of smoke.

Gov. Greg Abbott's signing of House Bill 1325, which is causing a commotion now after quietly advancing through the Texas Legislature, approved the legalization of hemp with THC — the ingredient in pot that gets people high — capped at 0.3%. The bill was designed to allow Texas farmers to grow hemp after the federal government legalized it in December. Hemp is used in a variety of products, including textiles, fuels, rope and chemical absorbents.

But with no telltale way using the naked eye to determine if a substance is industrial-grade hemp or its "everybody-let's-get-stoned" cousin, pot, law enforcement would have to send it off to a lab for testing. Still, an even bigger problem follows: Only one known lab in the state is equipped to handle the testing.

Facing impossible courtroom battles against defense attorneys, prosecutors in many major Texas counties have thrown up their hands and begun rejecting marijuana possession cases that have come across their desks since the passing of the bill. The Tarrant County criminal district attorney's office has dismissed 234 misdemeanor cases, and prosecutors in Harris and Bexar counties have also stopped accepting misdemeanor cases.

Williamson County District Attorney Shawn Dick said his office will make decisions on a case-by-case basis dependent on other evidence supporting a conclusion that a substance is pot and not hemp.

The district attorneys in Galveston and Montgomery counties as well as the district attorney in El Paso County say they will continue to prosecute marijuana cases, the Associated Press reported on Wednesday.

Travis County prosecutors for weeks had quietly been discussing what to do. Finally, after a midday meeting Wednesday with Austin Police Chief Brian Manley and Travis County Sheriff Sally Hernandez, District Attorney Margaret Moore and County Attorney David Escamilla announced separately that they had done away with 93 cases — 61 misdemeanors for small amounts and 32 felonies for large amounts. They won't be filing any new cases, either.

"This is good news for everyone in Texas — not only those who want to smoke marijuana, but the other majority of Texans that don't use marijuana but think it's ridiculous that it's still a crime at all," said Jamie Spencer, an Austin criminal defense attorney who serves as general counsel for the Texas chapter of National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

Anyone who had a pending possession case that predated the law change is out of luck: Their charges won't be dropped.

"We don't believe the law is retroactive," Escamilla said.

The announcements from Escamilla and Moore were softened by a statement from Hernandez, who said she will continue to direct her deputies to make arrests in felony possessions cases and issue citations for misdemeanors. Likewise, Manley said police will continue its cite-and-release policy on minor offenses.

Criminal charges, however, can be rejected by prosecutors, who have final say over the direction of a case.

Moore, in a statement, indicated her decision was partly because of concerns with the cost of commissioning THC testing to an outside lab.

"Additionally, the testing lab will have to be paid to testify, which will incur additional expense," Moore said. "And, of course, since we only know of one lab that is presently able to this testing, the time to get results could be quite lengthy.”

Austin police do not have the capability to do the analysis, nor does the Texas Department of Public Safety, which handles testing for the sheriff's office and other law enforcement agencies in Travis County.

“I am told that the Legislature passed this bill noting little or no local fiscal impact," Moore said. "That is obviously incorrect. In fact, if we are expected to enforce the law, our law enforcement agencies and our own budget will have to absorb the cost of the additional testing required and the litigation costs related to the new provisions."

Before the legislation was passed, the Texas Department of Public Safety said it could cost the agency up to $20 million to hire and train new staff and buy equipment to test for THC, according to the Associated Press.

She said the situation was "particularly hurtful when local jurisdictions are facing revenue caps imposed by that same Legislature."

"I hope they address this next session," Moore said.