It looks like the number of dispensaries / smoke shops that have opened up in Texas have finally reached the critical mass to unlock enough sweet, sweet tax / lobby revenue.
It's only a matter of time before more states realize how much money they're leaving on the table without legalization.
This may be the only sensible thing Abbott has done in a while. Texas is trending towards a nanny state for quite a bit for things Republicans politicians don't like.
It's miracle that Dan Patrick is not in jail and wasn't impeached from his job last year. Tough on crime Republicans in Texas Senate acquitted him of 16 impeachment charges around bribery and corruption.
> Supporters of SB 3 argued that a full prohibition was necessary to protect young people from consuming products with high concentrations of THC.
This is a bit like saying: in order to prevent minors from getting their hands on Everlear or 151, we must ban all alcohol in all forms.
> Though that 2019 law does not allow products to contain more than trace amounts of delta-9 THC, it did not establish that same threshold for other hemp derivatives. Critics say the hemp industry exploited that loophole to usher in more than 8,000 retailers selling THC-laced edibles, drinks, vapes and flower buds across Texas.
And here lies the real problem I see, when state governments start banning recreational cannabis and instead have "hemp loopholes", you end up with a much sketchier product for consumers. In Colorado I can go to the dispensary and buy "pure pot" that is just flower that was grown, dried and packaged with no other modification. With these hemp derivatives like Delta 8/9/etc, they distill down the various parts into a chemical form and then spray that shit on hemp flower or add it to other products.
Now the question I ask is: how was it distilled? what chemicals were used in the process? are those chemicals safe? and a million other related questions. With regular pot there's none of that.
And the last thing I'll say on this is it seems that pot has unfortunately gotten tangled up in the culture war here in the US. Lots of folks I see now that oppose cannabis legalization don't really have a specific reason to oppose it, they just do because "pot" is now a proxy for "woke" and "liberal" and they have to own the libs.
Texas where regular cannabis is still criminalized and there's no actual dispensaries, the tobacco, smoke shops and gas stations are flooded with the delta-8, 10, 12, etc products. Advertising on billboards for cannabis analogs with the leaf but no full cannabis (edit: delta-9 for those unaware.)
It's ridiculous. There's no enforcement on all the analogs that work maybe 50% as well as the actual thing. The state has to be happy and looking the other way on all the tax revenue now being brought in by these corner smoke shops.
In case anyone were wondering: delta 8/9 THC were/are de facto decriminalized in TX because of the exception that substances originating from hemp are okay while ordinary marijuana plants are still illegal. It's inconsistent and silly. In practice, ordinary marijuana has entered gray market status as it is sometimes for sale in Houston, Austin, and San Antonio in some small shops.
The war on drugs continues because there's police and prison money and status gained by maintaining the status quo.
I was in Canada before, during and after recreational legalization. Nothing bad happened, in fact, a lot of organized crime lost a revenue stream. Now I live in Wisconsin and Iām amazed that the state gives away free tax money to three of its neighbors.
This stuff was legalized with a bill written by Republicans in congress, passed in a Republican majority controlled house and senate, and signed into law by a Republican president. To call the legislature in Texas at this point extremist is an understatement. Mind boggling how out of touch they have become even with their own base.
Hmm, why is this flagged?
Given the amount of profits and taxes raised through cannabis legalization, and the volume of voters who want it, only the most narrowly focused, dogmatic politician seems to oppose legalization.
Full legalization is coming, one way or another, and states opposing it are only hurting themselves.