A brief roundup of some THC stories…
Gov. Greg Abbott has been tight-lipped about whether he’ll sign the bill on his desk that would ban THC in Texas. I don’t envy him. There’s really no right decision.
“This is poisonous THC. No regulations whatsoever,” Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick railed about the current situation in a recent video. “No one knows what’s in it. And it’s more powerful … than what you could buy from a drug dealer on the street.”
He’s not wrong. But when it comes to THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, the principal intoxicant in cannabis, one person’s poison is another person’s antidote.
“If you take away the one thing that’s working,” retired U.S. Marine, 1st Sgt. Arthur Davis, told me Tuesday, “we’re going to start using the thing that got us all in the situation we were in – and that’s alcohol.”
Davis, a 57-year-old decorated combat veteran whose post-traumatic stress disorder led him to drug addiction, credits Harris County veterans court with helping him get clean and daily use of marijuana for helping him stay that way. He’s able to smoke at home and pop a few gummies discretely in a crowd to keep the anxiety at bay.
He knows there’s some vapes and other high potency products out there that could knock him out: “Since the nerds took over, marijuana is a whole different ball game now,” he said, referring to chemists working for profit-minded companies that have dangerously increased THC content.
But Davis says friends and veterans he has mentored are calling scared, wondering how a new law would disrupt the fragile balance they’ve found without having to use debilitating meds.
For every life endangered – every headline about a 2-year-old hospitalized for a THC overdose or a teen’s mental breakdown linked to THC – there seems to be a life saved or vastly improved.
For every parent who worries about a smoke shop’s close proximity to a school – the Houston Chronicle found 76 Houston-area campuses within 1,000 feet – there’s a smoke shop owner who worries about her close proximity to bankruptcy should Abbott sign legislation essentially dismantling Texas’ $8 billion hemp industry and its estimated 50,000 jobs. Senate Bill 3 would outlaw THC for all but approved medicinal uses and allow only the sale and consumption of non-psychoactive, non-intoxicating CBD or CBG.
No one’s sure what Abbott will do. He could sign the bill, veto it or let it become law without his signature. In the past, Abbott has signaled support of marijuana decriminalization, saying “small possession of marijuana is not the type of violation that we want to stockpile jails with.”
On Tuesday, his spokesman sent me a boilerplate statement: “Governor Abbott will thoughtfully review any legislation sent to his desk.”
That’s by Lisa Falkenberg, who’s back to being a columnist again. She gives too much weight to the anti-THC side, though you should read on for the evidence she marshals. She’s also overthinking what Abbott will do. The answer to that is that Greg Abbott will do whatever Greg Abbott thinks is best for Greg Abbott. One can reasonably make a case for or against him signing or vetoing the THC ban bill, but the reasoning behind whatever he does is as simple as that.
To be sure, there is some pressure on Abbott to veto the bill.
On just one of Abbott’s posts Wednesday on the social media site X, which was unrelated to THC, dozens of accounts responded urging him to block the ban. Prominent conservatives have also voiced deep frustration with what they see as a policy straying from the Republican party’s traditional small-government principles.
Lubbock conservative radio host Chad Hasty said Abbott risks souring a relationship with grassroots conservatives, especially veterans, that is already “touch-and-go” if he signs the ban into law.
“Limited government conservatives are very upset,” said Hasty, who has talked publicly about his father’s use of hemp, instead of opioids, to alleviate back pain. “They’re going, ‘wait a minute, this isn’t what we voted for. This is not what we wanted.’”
And the industry that has cropped up over the last five years has gone into overdrive, arguing the ban will eliminate more than 50,000 jobs — an appeal to the governor’s pro-business mindset.
One store in Leander, just outside of Austin, offered discounts this week to customers who wrote to Abbott urging a veto. And an online petition by the Texas Hemp Business Council had drawn more than 81,600 signatures Wednesday afternoon.
The coalition now pushing Abbott for a veto is similar to the group of advocates that successfully convinced Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican who Abbott has followed more than once, to veto a similar ban in the state. DeSantis argued it would “introduce dramatic disruption and harm to many small retail and manufacturing businesses in Florida” — a business argument Abbott could easily adopt.
Patrick insisted he was not worried about that and instead said he’s trying to shift the public narrative.
“I know the governor. I know where his heart is, and I know where he wants to be,” Patrick said. “I’m worried about the pressure on the media and the general public to try to keep this going in some way and bring it back or stay alive.”
[…]
But Patrick is far from where public opinion stands, said Josh Blank, a political scientist at the University of Texas at Austin’s Texas Politics Project.
In April, polling by the organization found 50% of Texas voters opposed an outright ban, while just 34% expressed support. The share who said they strongly opposed the ban was also more than double those who said they strongly supported a ban, 35%-17%.
Meanwhile, 51% of Texas voters supported legalizing at least a small amount of legal marijuana. Only 15% said it should not be legal.
“Patrick is fighting something of an uphill battle against public opinion when it comes to significantly expanding prohibitions on the availability of THC and THC-adjacent products in the state,” Blank said. “Is its signature by the governor not a sure thing? It certainly raises that question. But it’s also a reflection of the fact that Dan Patrick is trying to change the conversation.”
But while vetoing the ban would make him a hero to some, Abbott would risk openly clashing with Patrick after a session largely marked by conservative wins.
“There’s been no open warfare between the two, but this might open up a wound that could be more complicated to heal,” said University of Houston politics professor Brandon Rottinghaus. “[Abbott] would definitely ruffle Dan Patrick’s feathers, but it has been a positive and productive session for both of them.”
Plus, while the THC ban has generated passionate pleas for a veto, it doesn’t register as a top priority for most voters, Blank said. It is unlikely to register in a significant way in an election.
“This isn’t an important issue,” he said. “And even for those who it is, is it more important than immigration and border security? Is it more important than business and the economy? Is it more important than property taxes?”
I mean, that’s what we have campaigns for. Dan Patrick isn’t the only one who is allowed to try to change the conversation. I agree, marijuana decriminalization has not been a salient issue in past elections, but it’s more visible now with the THC ban, if Abbott doesn’t veto it. There’s a direct and tangible effect on many people, both those who are about to be unemployed and those who are about to be cut off from remedies for various ailments and conditions. That has a way of resetting priorities. That may still fail to outweigh the other concerns mentioned, but it’s far too soon to dismiss the idea.
And as for Danno, well, he has feelings about all this.
Texas has found a way to prohibit minors from legally buying alcohol and cigarettes without banning the products entirely.
That’s why I asked Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick on Wednesday at a press conference if there is a way he could better protect children from the dangers he says THC products pose without prohibiting every grown adult in Texas from having access to the products — as he has been pushing all session.
“What are you, crazy?” Patrick responded before the question had even fully escaped my lips.
Patrick said while it is true he has been focused on protecting kids from the proliferation of the products, he’s also dead set against adults buying them.
“We don’t want anybody buying anything off the shelf that could kill them or ruin their mental state for the rest of their lives,” Patrick said while holding a bag of THC-infused cereal bites.
Many in the THC industry would obviously dispute his characterization of the dangers the products pose. Still, Patrick continued on and pointed his finger at me and blasted me for even asking the question.
“That’s the kind of talk, the reason why we’re here: the media that would say something as stupid as that,” Patrick said.
Check out his full response on social media here.
That’s from Chron reporter Jeremy Wallace. Sounds to me like Patrick could use a couple of gummies to help calm his nerves and soothe his emotions. Or maybe he’s just too emotional to hold office like that. I agree with The Barbed Wire that he didn’t expect to face such pushback. He’s used to being obeyed and feared. Maybe not so much anymore.
I’ll give the last word to these guys:
The Lt. Gov of Texas @DanPatrick held up one of our products today in a press conference about SB3 and blatantly lied on multiple occasions.
-He claimed that our product was 6,000mg’s (It’s 20mg per piece, 200mg per bag)
-He claimed that we didn’t test our products and they aren’t regulated (all of our products are third party lab tested in accordance with Texas state law HB 1325)
-He also claimed our products were Delta 10 and Delta 6 when they are actually Delta 9 THC
-And he also claimed “we have no clue what’s in it”, well Governor if you turn it over you’ll find full ingredients list as well as nutritional information and certificate of analysis on. every. product.
Next time you use one of our products in your press conference @DanPatrick, get your facts straight.
— Hometown Hero ATX (@HometownHeroATX) 4:50 PM – 28 May 2025
You know what I think. Dan Patrick is the villain that was promised. The rest is up to us.
Elect garbage people, get garbage results. These people couldn’t care less about the people they “govern”. They’re ghouls. That’s all they are, taking joy in peoples suffering. F*ck Republicans.
Who was the poor staffer from his office that was given the task of procuring these… props? And now that he has them … what is his plan for “responsibly” disposing of them? This does not feel like he was thinking more than 15 seconds in front of him.
He’s not thinking about it. He just wants to hurt people. He never gave a rats ass about children. Heneeds to be using some of those props.