The previous several weeks in Austin have become suspenseful legislative nail biters for cannabis advocates, with House Bill 1325 passing in the Texas House of Representatives and further authorizing legal industrial hemp/CBD cultivation in the massive state with a strong agricultural backbone. Quickly after the passing of HB 1325, a historic moment occurred when the cannabis decriminalization-centered House Bill 63 passed the Texas House with a total vote of 103-42. While the cannabis legalization war will never truly end, this was certainly a win for advocates.
El Paso Rep. Joe Moody, along with 102 other legislators spoke for the well-documented majority of Texans. Rep. Moody’s tireless efforts to initially file, defend and testify for cannabis decriminalization are certainly commendable and those 102 legislators nearly acted as a proportionally correct microcosm of the percentages of Texans that support cannabis reform, with 71 percent of The House voting for the bill and close to the percent of Texans that support reform.
However even after several committee meetings where hundreds of individuals from virtually every walk of life passionately testified in favor of cannabis decriminalization and majorly came out on top in the Texas House, a major legislative roadblock may just be down the path to Governor Abbott’s desk. The Igor to Gov. Abbott’s Doctor Frankenstein, the Grand Moff Tarkin to his Darth Vader, the Sean Hannity to his Donald Trump. This roadblock is not too surprisingly, the radio host-turned Lt. Governor Dan Patrick.
Yesterday, Lt. Gov. Patrick posted on Twitter that longtime State Senator and Criminal Justice Committee Chair John Whitmire was correct and stated that House Bill 63 was “dead in the Texas Senate.” With this tweet alone, the notable prohibitionist both showed his truly antiquated colors on the subject of cannabis and subsequently went directly against the Texas Republican Party platform that his respective political party implemented in regards to cannabis at their 2018 state convention, which calls for simple cannabis possession to be lessened to a Class C misdemeanor.
“The lieutenant governor tried to lay down the law yesterday,” said Heather Fazio, director of Texans for Responsible Marijuana Policy, “but he was met with really overwhelming opposition to his position. Even if you just look at his tweet, the number of comments versus the number of people that agreed his post is dramatic. There are thousands of comments and only about 109 actually liked what he had to say.”
House Bill 63’s next legislative step is the bill being referred to a corresponding committee, in this case the Criminal Justice Committee. Although the words and Reefer Madness rhetoric of the former radio talk show host who received $97,500 from pharmaceutical industries throughout his campaigns can appear threatening, Senator Whitmire himself later corrected Patrick’s declaration and told that while the Texas Senate doesn’t currently have the votes, he’s “going to do the best he can to round up support”.
Another source of relief for advocates should come from Senator Whitmire’s much more positive and progressive voting record when it comes to cannabis and other drug-related reforms in Texas law. In 2015, he voted in favor of Senate Bill 339, essentially the Senate version of Texas Compassionate Use Act. In 2009, the Democratic state senator also voted in favor of a bill that would’ve sanctioned needle exchange programs for intravenous drug users and a 2007 bill which would’ve created a treatment option for drug offenders. Whitmire is without a doubt miles ahead of Patrick in the race of supporting cannabis reform.
“Dan Patrick is out of step not only with the majority of Texans but within his own political party,” said Fazio, “including and most especially the grassroots of the Republican Party of Texas. Texans have been subjected to decades worth of propaganda, lies and misinformation from our own government about marijuana. Many people have fallen victim to that propaganda we’ve been enduring and he (Patrick) is no exception.
The only difference between him the that the majority of Texans is that the rest of have taken time to educate ourselves about the truth about how harmful cannabis actually is, what are the risks, how these penalties are negatively affecting individual families and communities. And that is why a majority of Texans want to see this law changed but the Lt. Governor hasn’t taken it upon himself to decipher fact from fiction.
He also seemed confused about the bill, thinking that this is a step towards legalization, when this bill doesn’t even decriminalize. It simply changes the penalties, so there’s a lack of understanding there.”
Fazio also highly advised that advocates contact their respective state senator to stand up and reciprocate the wishes of their constituents by supporting the bill and even Lt. Governor Patrick’s office directly.
To find your assigned state senator, please visit https://wrm.capitol.texas.gov/home
For Lt. Governor Patrick’s office directly, please call (512) 463-5342 for his message line or (512) 463-0001 for the Direct Office Line or visit https://www.ltgov.state.tx.us/contact/