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A new survey from the University of Houston's Hobby School of Public Affairs studied Texans' opinions on public policy, including marijuana, and recently released its results.
Meanwhile, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has said that one of his legislative priorities is to ban all consumable THC products in the state during the upcoming Texas legislative session.
TPR’s Jerry Clayton recently spoke with Heather Fazio, director of the Texas Cannabis Policy Center, about the survey and the coming debate on marijuana policy in the Texas Legislature.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Clayton: Let's talk about this latest polling data that's come out. Can you summarize what they found?
Fazio: Well, the University of Houston's Hobby School for Public Policy released the results of their most recent polls on cannabis legalization, and it tells us what we already knew. A majority of Texans, including Republicans, want to see prohibition repealed and a legal market for cannabis instituted.
We saw 62% of Texans supporting legalization in the State of Texas and 79% supporting a comprehensive medical marijuana program.
Clayton: The lieutenant governor recently quoted some of this research, but he only used a small portion and left out quite a bit, is that correct?
Fazio: The lieutenant governor did feature the part of the poll that talked about the impairing THC products that are on the hemp market. We saw 55% of Texans wanting to see THC banned, but that's inconsistent with their desire to also see legalization, and this exemplifies the confusing and unnecessarily complicated cannabis laws we have in the state.
Texans don't want to see under regulated industries. They would prefer to see a comprehensive legal infrastructure where products are tested, where they're labeled, where there's consumer protection, and most importantly, where we're protecting young people by requiring ID when you go to purchase these products at the store.
Clayton: Does your organization feel that the sales of THC products are regulated enough already?
Fazio: Well, hemp products in Texas, those for consumption, are regulated at the state and the federal level. So when folks talk about them being unregulated, that simply isn't true.
But there is room for improvement. We would like to see better regulations put in place, especially when it comes to age restrictions, so that products that cause impairment are only available.
For adult use we also want to see better standards when it comes to packaging so that they're child resistant and advertising so they're not particularly appealing to children.
These are the types of policy discussions that we're going to have to navigate this legislative session, otherwise we're kicking the can down the road for another two years, and that simply isn't acceptable.
Clayton: The lieutenant governor has mentioned SB3, which, I don't know if anyone's actually seen what's in it. Are you aware of SB 3 and what is contained in that bill?
Fazio: Senate Bill 3 has been getting a lot of attention, that's because [the] lieutenant governor and [State Sen.] Charles Perry from West Texas have been talking about it a lot. However, the language of the bill has not been publicly released, so we don't know exactly what's in it. What we do know is that there's a House bill that's been introduced that would ban all consumable cannabinoid products including CBD.
And our hope is that we can work with that legislator, [State Rep.] Matt Shaheen in House District 66 — work with him to get some amendments to that bill to make sure that this is an effort that bans these products for minors rather than for responsible adults.
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