Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick isn’t giving an inch on his push to ban THC products in Texas.
Despite polls showing middling support for the ban from GOP primary voters and backlash by conservative talk radio hosts who are usually on his side, the Houston Republican has been touring the state to tout all of the Texas Legislature’s accomplishments and in the process, explain why he’s trying to ban THC.
“It’s very potent; it’s very dangerous,” Patrick said during a stop in Wichita Falls on Tuesday, one of 12 stops he made early in the week.
As the leader of the Texas Senate, Patrick was the leading force in passing Senate Bill 3, which aims to ban all THC products in Texas starting in September. The bill passed the Texas Senate and Texas House. Now, Gov. Greg Abbott, also a Republican, has to decide whether to let the ban become law or veto it.
“Law enforcement across the state says we need to ban it and we passed a bill to ban it,” Patrick said.
Patrick has consistently said companies selling THC have exploited a loophole in the state’s hemp bill that was never intended to allow the legalization of THC. Texas now has more than 8,500 retailers selling those THC products, many of which can produce the high traditionally associated with marijuana, which is banned in the state except for certain medical uses.
He said those new stores are often popping up near schools and trying to hook underage users on the products.
Patrick said he’s never smoked marijuana before, but said he’s been told the THC products today are more potent than what people may have smoked 20 or 30 years ago.
I will give him credit for going out there and facing the voters to defend his unpopular and unwanted legislation. Considering how pusillanimous his Congressional colleagues have been, it’s almost honorable. Mind you, I doubt anyone’s getting in his face or challenging his childlike beliefs in any meaningful way. But at least they have the opportunity.
In the meantime, Greg Abbott is out here basking in the drama.
Gov. Greg Abbott said on Wednesday that he has still not decided if he will sign or veto legislation banning THC products in Texas.
“I’m going to give it the thoughtful consideration from every angle that it deserves,” Abbott said of Senate Bill 3, which would ban all hemp-derived THC products in Texas starting in September.
The Republican governor said he’s going to approach the decision like a judge, weighing the evidence on both sides of the issue before making a decision. Abbott was a judge in Harris County and later served on the Texas Supreme Court before becoming the state’s attorney general in 2002.
“This is a time when I will once again put on my judicial hat and weigh arguments on both sides and figure out a pathway forward,” Abbott said.
Gag me. Either he’s channeling Hamlet or he’s just stringing us all along. Greg Abbott will do what Greg Abbott thinks is best for Greg Abbott. Maybe he hasn’t figured out what that is yet, but that’s all there is to it.