AUSTIN, Texas — Texas lawmakers are pushing to crack down on cannabis this legislative session. Lawmakers are expected to introduce a bill to ban consumable THC products in the state, a priority of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.
On Tuesday, youth advocates from Texans for Safe and Drug-Free Youth were at the capitol to lobby lawmakers for more restrictions on cannabis and alcopop products.
The youth advocates said cannabis and “alcopop” products are too easy for young people to access.
“Kids don’t have to be carded,” said Texans for Safe and Drug-Free Youth CEO Nicole Holt. “They can get them practically anywhere. You can get them at a convenience store across the street from a school.”
Holt said it is an unregulated market where people don’t always know what they are getting in cannabis products. They want a comprehensive ban on cannabis products.
“We know when youth have easy access to products, they use more products,” Holt said. “When products are intoxicating, like alcohol or cannabis products, they get more trouble, they find themselves in car crashes, they find themselves in school having a harder time performing academically.”
Iishaan Ianbatchini, a high school senior from Frisco, said a shop sells these products across the street from his campus. He came to the Capitol Tuesday to encourage lawmakers to pass Senate Bill 3, which would ban the sale of all consumable forms of THC.
“These vape shops and stores can legally sell these products to people of any age. It’s extremely easy for youth to get their hands on these products,” Ianbatchini said. “You see them using them, in the bathrooms in school, during class.”
The products started popping up after Texas approved a farming bill in 2019. House Bill 1325 established the Texas Health and Safety Code Chapter 443. It allows for the commerce of consumable hemp products across the state that do not exceed 0.3% delta-9 THC. That law has led to the sale of hemp-derived delta-8 THC, as well as products that contain delta-9 THC at 0.3% of the total weight, which can still be an intoxicating amount at a high ratio.
Patrick said he wants to ban all consumable THC in Texas with Senate Bill 3, which would ban all forms of the psychoactive substance. THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, is the predominant chemical in marijuana that gets people high. Generally speaking, it can be accessed in several forms, from the actual cannabis plant to THC-infused sodas.
“They’re laced in candies, cookies, chocolates, and chips, the types of snacks that children often consume,” Matthew Rossheim, a professor and researcher at the University of North Texas, said. “They’re also in vaping devices that are not regulated and things like that.”
Rossheim, who studies the marketing and health effects of the products, said they are dangerous.
“There’s also harms related to how these products are chemically created,” Rossheim said. “There’s all these chemical byproducts. They’re not only creating THC but heavy metals. People are ingesting them or vaping it or smoking them into their lungs, causing a variety of negative health effects.”
There are issues with access, regulation and labeling of products. In recent years, products have become more widely available in various forms.
“They’re also mixing these in hundreds of combinations,” Rossheim said. “We know very little about these individual cannabinoids, let alone in all of the hundreds of combinations they’re being sold and all the different forms.”
Senate Bill 3 is sponsored by State Sen. Charles Perry, (R-Lubbock), but has not been officially filed yet. Perry did not respond to a KVUE request for an interview on Tuesday. However, the bill’s low number signifies it is a high priority for Patrick.
The lieutenant governor said in recent years, thousands of cannabis stores have opened across the state. He said retailers have exploited the law and started selling products that contain three to four times the THC content that might be found in marijuana purchased from a drug dealer and marketed them to children.
“These are not products kids should be having,” Holt said. “They shouldn’t be chemically engineered and manipulated such that they can get high, and not even necessarily know what it is that the product is itself.”
Critics say rather than an all-out ban, the state could impose age limits or potency caps to regulate the market.
“We would argue there is no limit for that,” Holt said. “That is just a product that shouldn’t be on the shelves at all.”
Patrick has said the legislation will not impact the state’s Compassionate Use Program and will ensure Texans needing to utilize that program will “have access to safe, doctor-prescribed medication.”
Patients are not allowed to grow their own cannabis. Only licensed cultivators can grow the plant and only for the production of low-THC cannabis, and patients must purchase products from a licensed dispensing organization.
An outright ban on delta-8 and other THC products in Texas failed to pass during the 87th Legislature in 2021 after the provision was stricken from the legislation. Another bill that would have outlawed delta-8 THC also died in the Legislature after an agreement could not be reached on amendments between the Texas House and Senate versions.
During committee testimony on that bill, the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) said it believed “delta-8 remains on the Schedule 1 drug schedule in Texas,” raising questions about whether it was already illegal in the state.
The DSHS can take enforcement action against hemp licensees who sell consumable hemp products containing controlled substances. However, the DSHS does not regulate possession.
Following the creation of the Texas Health and Safety Code Chapter 443, many municipalities in Texas have chosen to decriminalize low-level marijuana possession.