'This is not Dan's folly': Lt. Gov. Patrick urges media to share the dangers of THC
AUSTIN (Nexstar) — On Tuesday, the Texas Senate agreed to adopt the House’s amendments on Senate Bill 3, putting the bill to ban non-medical THC on Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk. The following afternoon, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick held a news conference — not to celebrate the bill he calls “the most important bill this session,” but to call for more media coverage on the harms of unregulated THC.
‘I told you we’d have snacks today’
Tuesday evening, Patrick sent out a memo announcing his news conference.
“Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick will hold a media briefing, along with end-of-session beverages and snacks,” the one-sentence release said.
Reporters shuffled into the crowded press conference room. In the center stood a table with a cloth hiding objects underneath.
“I told you we’d have snacks today. Want to lift the snacks?” Patrick asked his staffers. The removed cloth revealed THC and CBD products, including cereal bites, gummies, lollipops and drinks.
“This is everything you can buy at a smoke shop and a vape shop that will either cause potentially paranoia, schizophrenia (or) tremendous health issues,” Patrick said. “Why have I called you here today? Because I don’t think the media has taken this issue seriously. I don’t think the story has been told. You talk about jobs being lost, you talk about a big industry, a big industry selling all of this to kids.”
Patrick then started going through the products one by one.
“It’s all sold for kids — designed for kids and adults. This one, this little bag of jellies — mango, peach — for $90 a bag. Send you sky high,” he said. “Sour bells. Slices. How about gummy worms? Gummy worms? This is what parents — you need to tell this story so that parents understand.”
The Lieutenant Governor then explained how these products emerged due to a loophole in a law passed in 2019.
“We heard this horrendous testimony of one 22-year-old who bought this. I don’t know what product it was, I think she said wedding cake. He stepped in front of a train and got run over and killed,” Patrick said. “This is serious business. This is not Dan’s folly. This is not Dan’s priority. This is to save an entire generation of being hooked on drugs.”
Patrick then proceeded to ask the room of reporters if anyone would want to buy an unknown substance that could “change your whole mental state for the rest of your life?” Then he proceeded to gently toss a bag of ‘cereal bites’ to the pool of reporters.
“Anybody want this bag? Okay, you want it,” Patrick said before tossing the THC snack. A reporter promptly put it back on the table. “I don’t think you want it. You wouldn’t dare buy it. You wouldn’t let your children, your grandchildren buy it. And by the way, come September, all this will be illegal anyway, so I’ll be turning this over to the police before I leave here.”
‘I now worry about the baked goods coming out of California’
To illustrate his point, Patrick invited guests from law enforcement to share their stories.
“We used to really worry about the cocaine out of Colombia or the methamphetamine out of Mexico. I now worry about the baked goods coming out of California and the candy coming out of Colorado,” Chambers County Sheriff Brian Hawthorne said. “What’s really interesting is the fact that many of these products that the Lieutenant Governor has here on the table — they don’t allow them to be sold in their state. They just ship them to us to poison our children.”
“[The police] are the folks that are out there working the streets at midnight, the ones that are having to go knock on doors and give bad, bad information to parents whose children were killed because they got involved with some of this stuff,” John Wilkerson with the Texas Municipal Police Association said.
“This right in front of you is a drug deal, that’s all it is,” Tomball Police Chief Jeff Bert said. Before moving to Texas five years ago, Bert worked in Los Angeles, where he says legalized marijuana wreaked havoc. “It’s the most insidious kind of drug deal, because it isn’t somebody that sneaks off when a police officer sees him or her and runs into an apartment and we go chasing — they’re selling this in gas stations, right next to Snickers and Cheetos.”
Patrick also invited Collin County District Attorney Greg Willis to share his perspective.
“They are targeting our kids, not adults, not patients but our kids,” Willis said. “In Collin County, we see the results of it. We see the psychotic episodes. We see the suicide attempts. We sit down with parents who are heartbroken and devastated after something has happened with their child, after they consume something that everybody thought was safe.”
‘Eat a bag of this tonight, see if you’re here tomorrow’
When Houston Chronicle reporter Jeremy Wallace asked Patrick if there was a way to protect children while still giving adults access, Patrick passionately said he doesn’t want adults to have access either.
“What are you crazy? You want to go home and eat a bag of this tonight, see if you’re here tomorrow? We focus on kids because that’s where they built the shops, but adults are buying this stuff too,” Patrick said. “That’s crazy talk. That’s the kind of talk — the reason why we’re here. Media that would say something as stupid as that. I’m sorry, that’s just true.”
‘I’m not going to speak for the Governor’
The final hurdle for SB 3 — and a total THC ban — is a potential veto from Abbott. He has stayed very tight-lipped about anything regarding hemp and THC this session.
When initially asked if he was worried about the possibility of a veto, Patrick deflected.
“I pass bills, the Governor signs or vetoes them,” Patrick said. “I know the Governor, I know where his heart is, and I know where he wants to be to protect children and adults.”
He was then asked why he called the press conference if the bill had already passed both chambers of the legislature.
“Because there’s a tremendous onslaught of pressure from an $8 billion industry that has unlimited money, and they’re trying to poison the story, to stop this from happening, that’s why,” Patrick said. “I can tell you how effective they are, because most of you in this room — no criticism — personally, most of you in this room have bought into a lot of their story… I’m not worried about the Governor. I’m worried about the pressure on the media and the general public to try to keep this going in some way.”
The question of Abbott’s intentions then came up a third time, when a reporter asked if Patrick had spoken with him.
“I speak to the Governor every day,” Patrick said.
“About this?” another reporter asked.
“Look, I’m not going to speak for the Governor, okay?” Patrick said. “He will do what he’s going to do. I have total confidence in the Governor. You will know his decision when he makes it. The reason I’m here today is for you to tell the story. I’m not worried about the Governor understanding it. I’m worried about you all understanding it.”
After the press conference, Abbott’s Press Secretary Andrew Mahaleris wrote, “Governor Abbott will thoughtfully review any legislation sent to his desk.”
