Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick unveiled legislation on Wednesday night in a move that would shut down the medical marijuana and hemp industries that he helped create in Texas with a ban on the sale of all THC products in the Lone Star State.
GOP State Senator Charles Perry - the West Texas lawmaker who carried the bill that got a booming retail business for THC products made from hemp off the ground - will attempt to dismantle in a proposal that Patrick designated as a paramount priority for the Legislature in 2025 in Senate Bill 3.
Neither Patrick or Perry sought to estimate the amount of taxpayer money that Texas legislators might have wasted with the legalization of medical marijuana and hemp cultivation for commercial in recent years. Texas lawmakers and Governor Greg Abbott declared a token medical marijuana program a success when they expanded it less than four years ago.
Patrick agreed to support the plan based on the relief that it would offer military veterans who were suffering from PTSD and other physical and mental maladies that stemmed from assignments in war zones. While Patrick and Perry didn't mention medical marijuana in their touting of SB 3, the program would become a vestige of the past in Texas based on the way the lieutenant governor and Senate sponsor described the measure in a press statement on the Senate president's web site.
Patrick focussed instead on dangers he perceives in the sale of hemp products as Delta-9 and other variations for recreational use for smoking or consuming as edibles. Patrick said the Legislature approved the hemp bill in 2019 as a boon for agriculture in Texas. But he contended that devious business interests found a loophole in the measure and are targeting Texas children in an attempt get them addicted to THC at an earlier age. Neither Patrick or Perry offered any evidence to support the assertions.
“Dangerously, retailers exploited the agriculture law to sell life-threatening, unregulated forms of THC to the public and made them easily accessible," Patrick said in a statement. "These stores not only sold to adults, but they targeted Texas children and exposed them to dangerous levels of THC. Since 2023, thousands of stores selling hazardous THC products have popped up in communities across the state, and many sell products, including beverages, that have three to four times the THC content which might be found in marijuana purchased from a drug dealer.
"Under Senate Bill 3, these products, and all forms of THC, will be banned in Texas," Patrick added without an explanation for the measure's apparent impact on products that have been legal here with a physician's prescription for a list of ailments like epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, autism and cancer that's terminal.
While Patrick and Perry didn't refer to medical marijuana in the touting of the legislation that targets hemp dispensaries, both would be prohibited based on their rhetoric and characterizations of the proposal up to now. The Perry bill had not been posted for public consumption by Thursday afternoon.
At least two dozen states have legalized cannabis produced from marijuana for recreational use. Thirty-eight states have medical marijuana programs. But Texas has become a ground breaker for the infusion of products with THC from cousin hemp.
Studies have shown that substantial numbers of seniors are turning to THC to alleviate pain and suffering from other ailments and disorders that come with old age. While the FDA has yet to approve THC for a specific medical use, the Mayo Clinic reported this year that older citizens are turning to cannabis for a variety of reasons including Alzheimer's disease, glaucoma, Crohn's disease, MS and severe stress.
But Patrick said SB 3 would have "broad bipartisan support" in the Senate and should receive "overwhelming support" in the House as well in the regular session that opens in January.
"We are not going to allow these retailers to circumvent the law and put Texans’ lives in danger," Patrick vowed.
No deaths have ever been reported from a marijuana overdose.
