Dan Patrick aims to ban THC products as a public health threat. Businesses and clients fear for their survival

From Houston Public Media:

Since Texas rolled back restrictions on sales of consumable hemp-based products six years ago, it’s exploded into a multibillion-dollar industry.

Now, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has made shutting down that industry one of his top legislative goals, saying it’s targeting children and fueling a public health crisis. Patrick’s legislation, which has already passed the Senate and is awaiting action in the House, has some Texans cheering and others despondent.

Patrick and his allies say the state’s 2019 hemp legalization bill created a loophole that led to tremendous sales of products containing a highly potent, chemically synthesized version of a compound called tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC. It’s these consumable THC products – in the forms of gummies, chips, vapes and drinks – that they’re looking to ban through Senate Bill 3.

“This stuff’s going to kids,” said state Sen. Charles Perry (R-Lubbock), the author of SB 3. “This is changing people’s life in short order, because it’s been marketed as something that is safe and legal, and it’s anything but.”

By Patrick’s estimate, the legal hemp industry in Texas has grown to about $8 billion, generating more than $12 million in tax revenue for the state each year. For Patrick and Perry, that revenue is beside the point.

“Profit over people is never an excuse to ignore the people,” Perry said. “I’ll tell you, the taxes we collect does not cover the behavioral health issues that’s created an addiction that the state budgets of the day have to cover.”

Multiple studies suggest THC use can increase the risk of schizophrenia and acute psychosis. At a hearing this week, Alexandra Hess of Houston spoke in opposition to House Bill 28 – a measure similar to SB 3, but with an exception for beverages.

“After consuming intoxicating levels of THC products, my brother suffered repeated psychotic breaks and spiraled into a mental health crisis that no one was equipped to handle,” Hess said. “I wish Joshua was here to tell you his story firsthand. Unfortunately, he did not survive his last psychotic break.”

Christine Scruggs of Pearland opposed HB 28 for similar reasons. Pointing to the experience of her son, she called for a complete ban on THC products.

“He was diagnosed with cannabis-induced psychotic disorder,” Scruggs said. “He worked through a dual-diagnosis program for eight-and-a-half months. His therapist told him he’s lucky not to have been converted to a long-term diagnosis of bipolar or schizophrenia.”

While Haley Hunt of Dripping Springs said she’s sympathetic to such cases, she argued the solution is to regulate THC, not ban it outright. Hunt, a nurse, operates a dispensary called Haus of Jayne. She told lawmakers most of her clients aren’t recreational users. Rather, they use her products to cope with pain, anxiety and sleep disorders.

“My clients are scared. They want to stock up, and I can promise you that they will find it online, but those funds will go out of Texas while my business closes,” Hunt said.

Many of those who testified they rely on these products are military veterans.

“After being injured in service, I found overwhelming pain and was prescribed heavy opioids,” said Terence Jones of Victoria, who lost multiple limbs to an antipersonnel mine in Afghanistan. “Like too many veterans, I became dependent. In 2015, I made the decision to quit pharmaceutical drugs and begin using hemp and THC products to manage my pain and PTSD. The decision changed and saved my life.”

Trevon Ferguson of Crandall, another Afghanistan War veteran, said he depends on such products to treat his epilepsy.

“That reduced my seizures from 5-10 a day to maybe 1-2 a year,” Ferguson said.

Advocates of both SB 3 and HB 28, including Patrick, say they favor expanding the state’s Compassionate Use Program to expand legal access to cannabinoids for people who need them for health reasons. But Jones, Ferguson, and others who testified against the measures were skeptical this would help, particularly given the likely consequences of either bill for their suppliers.

“(Either) bill would effectively wipe out most of the industry,” said Katharine Neill Harris, the Alfred C. Glassell, III, Fellow in Drug Policy at Rice University’s Baker Institute. “I think it’s fair to say that the retail businesses and also hemp manufacturers, a significant portion of their sales and revenue come from products that do contain THC.”

Business owners and customers testifying against the measures said banning THC products wouldn’t eliminate the market. It would only drive it underground and, without state-mandated testing, make the products even less safe.

“The state will still have to enforce the laws that it implements,” Harris said. “That requires money. It requires a lot of funding, and if we don’t see the resources put towards enforcement that are needed, we’re going to continue to have the same problem of people getting access to products that aren’t only highly potent but have other kinds of additives, that have, for example, residual solvents or heavy metals or pesticides in them that are not safe for human consumption.”

Law enforcement advocates have openly endorsed SB 3, arguing that a total ban on THC products is necessary, because they are contributing to crime. They argue that many of the products being marketed as legal actually exceed the THC content allowed by the 2019 hemp law.

“Consumers have no idea what they’re consuming in these containers, and most people think that, if you walk into a store and you’re able to buy something from a retail establishment, it must be legal and it must be safe,” said Allen Police Chief Steve Dye, speaking on behalf of the Texas Police Chiefs Association. “With these THC consumables, neither is true.”

But Craig Katz, an attorney with St. Louis-based cannabis retailer CBD Kratom, warned that a total or near-total ban on THC products would do nothing to fight crime, but rather the opposite.

“I guarantee you that the crime and violence that (Dye is) concerned about now will double, triple, quadruple,” Katz said. “It will be no different than drug wars that you’ve seen all across the country. It will be no different than prohibition in 1925.”

And while advocates of the THC bans say they’re particularly necessary because many of the products are packaged and marketed to target children, Harris says that raises another problem. Both SB 3 and HB 28 wouldn’t just make the sale of such THC products a class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year behind bars.

“To institute a penalty that carries up to a year jail sentence for simply possessing hemp with THC, it really goes in the opposite direction of what many Texans want to see with cannabis policy,” Harris said, “and it could have very far reaching legal consequences, especially for young people who are more likely to be involved with the legal system and who the supporters of this bill say that they want to protect.”

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