The Chron is not impressed.
By issuing an executive order banning THC products for minors, Gov. Greg Abbott ensured nobody would be fully satisfied.
When crafting legislation, that’s often a good thing. Compromise, by definition, means both sides don’t get everything they want. When Abbott vetoed a proposed ban on recreational marijuana, we joined scores of Texans in hoping it would lead to a grand bargain between the hemp lobby and prohibitionists that regulated weed much like we do alcohol.
But when a second special session ended without a bill regulating THC, Abbott decided to do it himself. The result is an imperfect regulatory framework that leaves plenty of open-ended questions, including whether this order is even legal. The last thing Texas needs is a descent into D.C.-style rule by executive order.
The good news is Abbott listened to some of our suggestions for treating weed like we do alcohol.
[…]
Things get murky in terms of where these retail shops can operate and the type of THC products they’re permitted to sell.
Abbott’s order also instructed the DSHS, TABC, and other agencies to prohibit stores within 1,000 feet of schools, churches, playgrounds, homeless shelters and treatment facilities. How broadly will state agencies define these boundaries? Will, for instance, any public space where children congregate count as a playground? Well-written legislation could have defined that term.
The order further instructs the agencies to create a system where cities and counties can hold “local option elections” that can ban certain retailers and possibly specific THC products. The TABC currently allows local governments to petition for elections to “decide the types of alcoholic beverages that can be sold in their communities.” It’s easy to imagine plenty of counties in Texas opting to go completely “dry” on selling hemp.
And if you’re looking for smokable flower hemp, you might be out of luck. Abbott’s order requires DSHS to test products for delta-9 THC as well as THCA. Delta-9 is what’s often sold by retailers, the psychoactive compound in cannabis that gets you high. THCA is the natural chemical precursor to delta-9, but becomes psychoactive when “heated.” That could, in effect, ban smokable flower products. Abbott told reporters in July he wanted to ensure hemp-based products “do not exceed three milligrams of THC content,” but his order stops short of determining a legal dosage for these compounds, leaving that in the hands of DSHS and TABC.
There’s also a question of paying for all of this. Abbott directs DSHS and TABC to identify “sources of funding” for enforcing these new regulations, either from existing revenue or potentially new fees. Whether state agencies can unilaterally create new taxes will, presumably, come up if this order is challenged in court. Again, these are the sorts of determinations that the Texas Constitution places in the hands of elected lawmakers in the Texas Capitol, not anonymous Austin bureaucrats.
See here for the background. I largely agree with their take, though I’m not as worried about the executive overreach since Abbott mostly just gave direction to the agencies that would already have a say in this. I agree that legislation would be the much better route to go here, but given the makeup of the Legislature right now, that’s not likely to happen anytime soon.
And the reason for that is mostly one person, who is not named in the Chron editorial.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is furious that Gov. Greg Abbott won’t go full prohibition on THC, unloading a 2,000-word tirade Friday that makes D.A.R.E. pamphlets look subtle. But don’t worry — Patrick insists this is not “a personal fight with the governor,” just a “disagreement on extremely important policy.”
Yep, just a completely normal, not-at-all-personal rant accusing Abbott of greenlighting what he essentially described as dangerous, brain-melting “irreversible damage” to children’s brains… via gummies.
For background, Abbott this week issued an executive order banning THC sales to minors, directing state agencies to tighten enforcement, and setting the stage for a regulatory framework. Basically: Card kids at the counter, slap some labels on gummies, and let agencies figure out the rest.
“The governor mentions in his executive order that he wants people 21 and over to ‘enjoy’ THC,” Patrick wrote, in his tirade. “For most people who buy these products, ‘enjoy’ means getting high. If they are not getting high, why are they buying any THC product?”
Patrick has called THC products a “poison in our public” and wants nothing less than a scorched-earth ban. In his release, he accused the governor of giving the THC industry the “state seal of approval” and warned that kids will still be gobbling mislabeled Delta-8 sold at shops conveniently near schools — despite the fact that many retailers in the state already prohibited sales to minors and check identification for that express purpose. Patrick, however, also cited undercover cops in Dallas who claimed smoke shop clerks warn customers the products could literally kill them.
Patrick rattled off all the ways Abbott’s order supposedly fails: no ban on Delta-8 or Delta-10 THC products, no ban on smokables, no limit on potencies, no restriction on location.
“We have age limits on alcohol and cigarettes, but we know that does not stop kids from getting them either,” said Patrick, with no evidence. “The difference here is that one highly potent THC product can cause irreversible damage to a young person’s mind forever.”
I mean, one way forward on this is for someone else to be Lite Guv in 2027. That’s not enough, because the Senate is full of Patrick minions, who will surely carry his torch going forward, but it’s a good start. Maybe some of those Republicans who claim to be pro-weed can start finding primary opponents for the likes of Charles Perry and so forth. We Dems will be happy to take out Patrick next year (you’ll need to help us with that), but some of those Senate districts are gonna have to be on you.
One group is happy and they know it.
Hemp industry stakeholders let out a sigh of relief, hopeful that there’s no third special session, and the impassioned efforts of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick will take a hiatus until the next Legislative Regular Session at the earliest.
“It feels good,” Hayden Meek, owner of Delta 8 Denton, said. “We got beat down a lot along the way. But we also had our victories along the way. And overall, it feels like a win.”
Meek had worried about potentially having to shutter in the event of a blanket THC ban, a reality for thousands of Texans working in the industry that Patrick would have gutted had he been given the chance.
The executive order bans the sale of THC products to minors, mandates ID checking for sales, introduces stricter labeling requirements, and imposes stiffer fees for businesses.
“These are the kinds of accountability checks that are so necessary in this industry, which has exploded in the last few years,” said Heather Fazio, director of the Texas Cannabis Policy Center. “I love to see Texans being able to enjoy cannabis products without fear of being arrested and licensed, regulated businesses operating and selling high-quality products. I think that’s what we see for the most part.”
The best way for y’all to keep feeling that euphoria you’re now experiencing is to make sure Dan Patrick is not presiding over the Senate in 2027. Hemp retailers and cannabis lobbyists have a lot riding on that. What are you going to do about it? If you sit on your hands and we’re facing down another ban in a year and a half, don’t come crying to me.