from Ben Adlin, Marijuana Moment:
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) this week emphasized a survey result showing that more than half (55 percent) of Texans want the state to rein its largely unregulated market for hemp-derived THC. At the same time, however, he seemed to ignore the survey’s other findings: that even more Texans want the state to legalize and regulate marijuana for both medical and adult use.
“This is a huge polling number on the issue of banning THC,” Patrick said Tuesday on social media, zeroing in on hemp-derived THC products that are widely available across the state. “Texans see these stores everywhere: in their neighborhoods and especially around schools where children have easy access. People simply don’t want them around.”
“Once the facts are out in the open,” he continued, “there is no doubt these public polling numbers will rise as more Texans demand a ban on these dangerous products.”
Rather than an outright ban on THC, however, the broader results of the University of Houston’s Hobby School of Public Affairs survey actually show that Texans want regulation of the psychoactive cannabinoid.
The polling found that nearly 4 in 5 (79 percent) support legalizing the sale and use of medical marijuana with a doctor’s recommendation, while more than 3 in 5 (62 percent) support legalizing and regulating an adult-use cannabis market.
Almost 7 in 10 (69 percent), meanwhile, said they think the state should decriminalize marijuana for personal use. There is bipartisan support in the survey for each of the reforms.
What Patrick is right about is that most Texans think laws around cannabis need to change: Only 22 percent of those surveyed favored keeping the state’s marijuana laws as they are. Reform advocates were quick to call out what some described as Patrick’s “cherry-picking” of the results.
“It is beyond clear at this point that Texans want safe, legal access to regulated cannabis products and an end to criminal and civil penalties for responsible adult use,” Morgan Fox, political director for the advocacy group NORML, told Marijuana Moment.
“Ignoring this fact and focusing only on the data that supports regulating currently available cannabinoid products while ignoring the broader public health and criminal justice demands of Texas voters does a disservice to them and will ensure that the Lone Star State continues to fall behind on sensible cannabis policy,” he said.
Heather Fazio, of the Texas Cannabis Policy Center, echoed those sentiments, writing in an email that “now is the time to institute better regulations, rather than sending us back to an era of prohibition.”
“There’s certainly a need for improved regulations, like age restrictions, but this multibillion-dollar industry reflects free enterprise, not exploitation,” Fazio said.