Texas Democrats are calling out a key Republican official for allegedly working to ban hemp THC products in order to benefit alcohol companies, which happen to be among his substantial campaign contributors.
During the last legislative session, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R), who oversees the Senate, championed legislation to recriminalize many hemp products. While the bill was ultimately vetoed by Gov. Greg Abbott (R), the governor then issued an executive order on the issue and regulators have since enacted significant restrictions on derivatives from the crop.
Now, a key county Democratic Party and Patrick’s opponent for reelection this year are calling attention to the the lieutenant governor’s support from the alcohol industry amid his push to hemp ben products.
“We’ve seen the lieutenant governor take hundreds of thousands of dollars from the alcohol industry, and that’s what drove the policy around the ban on THC,” Vikki Goodwin, the Democratic lieutenant governor nominee and current state representative, said last week, according to The Beaumont Enterprise.
“I am in favor of treating THC like alcohol,” she said. “A part of my healthcare plan is taxing THC like we do alcohol and cigarettes and use that for healthcare.”
Similarly, the Bexar County Democratic Party said in a post on Facebook this weekend that hemp represents a “multi-billion dollar industry with over 14K small business owners and more than 50K employees.”
“And the Texas Republicans just wiped them out,” it said. “Why? Could it be because Dan Patrick received $275K in donations from beer distributors and alcohol PACs?”
In June Patrick’s campaign committee, Texans for Dan Patrick, reported receiving $275,000 from the alcohol distributor company Silver Eagle Distributors, according to a Texas Ethics Commission filing.
Texas Democrats are increasingly using the cannabis issue to bash Republicans as the November elections approach—and are highlighting their opponents’ support from the alcohol industry.
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico, for example, wants to legalize marijuana and suggested in a recent interview that that his opponent for the seat, state Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) supports banning cannabis in order to aid his political donors in the alcohol and tobacco industries.
“It doesn’t make any sense until you follow the money and realize that it is big beer and big tobacco that are funding the politicians, like Ken Paxton, who turned around and banned these safe THC products in order to enrich the big beer and a big tobacco lobby,” Talarico, who currently serves as a state representative, said.
In a separate interview, the Democratic candidate said that keeping marijuana illegal while also moving to restrict hemp THC products is an “insane” form of “corruption.”
“Think about what industries are most worried about THC products being readily available: Big Beer, Big Tobacco, right? And so they were the ones pushing this THC ban because it hurts their bottom line,” he said. “And a lot of research shows that THC—cannabis—these products are safer and less addictive than than beer or tobacco.”
“And so to me, this is a prime example of what corruption looks like when you’ve got big industries buying politicians and pushing bills that harm people, but benefit them financially,” Talarico said.
The Texas Democratic Party recently called out Paxton for refusing to answer a question about cannabis policy after he was recently shown in a video posted to X being asked what his thoughts are on the “state’s THC ban.”
“I don’t know the details of it, but let’s talk later,” he replied before quickly stepping away.
Paxton, in fact, has sued to overturn local voter-approved marijuana decriminalization laws in several cities across Texas.
His office has also defended hemp product restrictions in court against lawsuits from the industry. That includes a recently enacted ban on certain hemp-derived THC cannabis products, including those containing delta-8 and delta-10 THC. Now classified as Schedule I drugs under state law, possession is treated as a felony, carrying a punishment of 180 days to two years in prison and fines of up to $10,000.
A judge this month declined hemp companies’ request to impose a temporary restraining order on the THC crackdown while the overall litigation is considered.
The Texas Democratic Party pounced on Paxton’s inability to answer the cannabis question, saying in a press release that he appeared to be “in a panic” when being pressed about the “incredibly unpopular” THC ban before proceeding to “run away” from the questioner.
“Ken Paxton is a coward who runs from questions because he has no answers for his wildly unpopular positions,” Texas Democratic Party Spokesperson Ryan Martin said. “Paxton knows Texans hate this THC ban he has pushed onto people with his nanny-state agenda.”
The party’s press release also noted that podcaster Joe Rogan, who lives in and operates a comedy club in Austin, discussed the issue on an episode of his podcast that was posted on Thursday.
“They’ve done the THC thing,” he said. “Here’s what Texas doesn’t understand. You will fuck this place up and you will turn the whole thing blue.”
“Kids will turn on you if you tell them they can’t smoke weed,” Rogan said. “They know weed’s not killing anybody.”
Voters in Houston will decide on an initiative to make misdemeanor marijuana possession the “lowest possible enforcement priority” for local police on the November ballot.
Image element courtesy of AnonMoos.
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