Last Wednesday, the office of the Lieutenant Governor announced that the Texas Senate will legislate Senate Bill 3 which aims to ban all consumable forms of THC. For those of you who don’t know what THC is, it is a cannabinoid found in both cannabis and hemp. It is one of the main compounds that gives out the psychoactive effects that one experiences when consumed, and for years, it has been used medically for pain, nausea, and improves appetite.
In the statement from Dannie Goeb himself (which is Dan Patrick’s actual name and will refer to him as such), he states that the reason for creating this bill is due to how dispensaries within Texas have “exploited the agricultural law to sell life-threatening, unregulated forms of THC to the public and made them easily accessible.” It also states that besides selling the so-called “life-threatening” THC products, the dispensaries have “targeted Texas children and exposed them to dangerous levels of THC.”
Here’s the issues with this:
1) These consumable products are legal not throughout the State of Texas, but throughout the entire county due to the Hemp Farming Bill that was passed by Trump in 2018.
2) Having more products containing THC is not the problem, and if you go to a proper dispensary, there are labels that say how much THC is in each dose, and the staff are happy enough to explain what would be recommended.
3) I have not seen any dispensary within the State of Texas target children at all. You have to be 21 to even enter a dispensary and have an ID to purchase as most businesses do when they sell tobacco and alcohol.
What Goeb doesn’t get is that banning THC won’t just backfire as it would lead to more illegal ways for people to get THC as the Prohibition era did with alcohol, but it would hurt numerous citizens of Texas who need it for their health.
There are cancer patients who use it to rid themselves of the nauseous side effects of chemotherapy. There are those who suffer from anxiety, pain, epilepsy, and insomnia who want something other than modern medicine. There are also veterans who have post-traumatic stress disorder who use it to help them as well.
THC has been more beneficial as medicine for thousands of years, and was used as medicine here in the U.S. in the 19th century. For someone who is supposed to be for the people of Texas, Goeb definitely has proven that he is against the people of Texas having natural, beneficial medicine and is for creating more illegal ways for people to get the medicinal benefits of THC.
As for his “Think of the Children” argument, the Texans for Safe and Drug-Free Youth reported that Texas students use alcohol more than any other drug with more than half of 7th-12th graders consuming alcohol over tobacco (2nd at 30%), cannabis (3rd at 22%), and prescription only medications (4th at 19%). Should alcohol be banned in Texas next? Should tobacco or prescription only medications?
When cannabis follows behind both alcohol and tobacco in underage use at 22% and you want it banned over alcohol and tobacco, it proves you don’t do the proper research.
Do the numbers of underage use convince me that THC, tobacco, or even alcohol should be banned? Absolutely NOT! As mentioned, prohibition will cause more problems than solve them, and the government and elected officials should not tell you what you should or should not put in your body.
Don’t listen to fools like Dannie Goeb. Instead, do the research yourself.
Comentários