Dan Patrick’s THC Tantrum: Why Banning the Plant Just Fuels the Fire

Stone Slade

04-03-2025

Original High At 9 News Story

You ever watch a grown man threaten to hold his breath until he gets his way? That’s basically

what we’re seeing in Texas politics right now, with Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick pitching a

full-on man-baby tantrum over THC.

After the Senate passed SB 3—his dream bill to ban all THC products, including the legal hemp-derived stuff like Delta-8 and Delta-9—Patrick warned the House that if they don’t pass it too, he might demand a special session. Because nothing screams "responsible governance" like dragging lawmakers back just so he can finish flipping the board when he’s losing the game.

Now, Patrick claims this is about protecting kids. Says “kids are getting poisoned today,” as if

teens are out there hitting Delta-8 vape pens on the playground like juice boxes. Nobody wants children accessing these products—but banning regulated, tested THC doesn’t protect them. It pushes everything underground, into the black market, where there are zero age checks, zero safety standards, and zero accountability.

You know what actually made Delta-8 a thing? Prohibition. If we hadn't spent decades

demonizing a plant that grows naturally out of the ground—if we’d regulated cannabis like

adults instead of pretending we could pretend it away—there wouldn’t have been a market for

synthetics in the first place.

Because here’s my take: there’s no need for Delta-8 or Delta-anything when we already have a perfectly good plant. Whole plant cannabis. Regulated, cultivated, and tested. The fact that we’re even debating over weird, lab-cooked loopholes is a direct result of political stubbornness and bad policy. And that brings me to House Bill 28—yes, the same one we reported on just last week. Now, it’s not perfect, but at least it’s headed in the right direction.

HB 28 proposes a regulatory framework that puts real oversight on the hemp industry: licensing, testing, packaging rules. It’s a grown-up solution to a grown-up problem.

Does it need a little tweaking? Sure. There are holes to plug and language to clarify. But at least it's not setting fire to a billion-dollar industry just to win a headline.

So I have to ask: if your goal is truly to protect kids, why push them into the arms of the black

market? Why dismantle a legal, regulated system and leave nothing in its place but risk and

chaos? Is this about safety... or is it about scoring political points?

Dan Patrick might think Texans will cheer him on while he throws this tantrum, but I think most

folks are smarter than that. They want policies that make sense, not performative crackdowns

that cause more harm than good.

Here’s hoping the House sticks to their guns, makes smart edits to HB 28, and tells Patrick to

save his breath—because no one’s interested in another round of legislative theater.

We’ve got enough drama in Texas already.