Patrick Orders Study on Hemp Psychosis
But Nothing on NM Land Grab Like House
Capitol Inside
March 27, 2026
Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick issued a sweeping list of interim charges for Texas Senate committees on Friday including a study on the fiscal and social costs of Governor Greg Abbott's decision to legalize the hemp THC industry after a veto killed a ban approved by lawmakers.
But Patrick refused to follow the lead of Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows with an interim charge for an investigation into the steps that it would take to acquire a couple of counties in southeast New Mexico so oil and gas interests there could pay fewer taxes on production to the state.
Most of the assignments that the Republican Senate president dished out for the interim deal with subjects that aren't just for show like the secession of Lea and Roosevelt counties from the Land of Enchantment in favor of an alignment with the Lone Star State. A select House committee will explore what it would take for Texas to absorb the NM counties with a study that will reveal that it would take a constitutional amendment from Democrats in Santa Fe and subsequent approval by voters in the areas affected. There is no chance - in other words - that the Texas boundaries will change.
The lieutenant governor's charges to Senate panel include some that focus on issue that transcend partisan lines and idealogies - from the management of data center growth, property and casualty insurance affordability, regulations for drones, juvenile violence, homelessness and mental health services. Patrick's assignments feature studies on the preparation of Texas workforce for artificial intelligence in the workplace and the desalination of salt water for the conversion to drinking water for areas that are risk of running out.
Patrick instructed the State Affairs Committee to zero in on gambling loopholes that he says have culminated in "a sudden inundation" of prediction markets that have given consumers ways to circumvent state law. Patrick has been the single biggest obstacle to casino gambling in Texas.
Patrick requested the Health and Human Services Committee to examine the "societal impacts" of hemp use around the state such as emergency confinements for mental problems that it causes despite Abbott's assurances that the products sold in Texas dispensaries would be perfectly safe for adults.
Patrick asked the HHS panel to seek to ascertain "the risk of being diagnosed with a THC-induced psychotic disorder" as a consequence of consumption of products that are available in stores that would have gone out of business if his push for a full-scale prohibition hadn't died at the stroke of the governor's red pen.
Patrick muscled a bill banning THC sales through the Senate where the ruling Republicans march to his orders and pay steep prices for potential disobedience. The lieutenant governor scared the House into backing off a regulatory plan for hemp that GOP leaders there had assembled in favor of the Senate ban.
But Abbott vetoed the legislation after the regular session ended - and he took the liberty to adopt a set of regulations to get the regulated hemp THC industry off the ground after a half-dozen years of flourishing without significant state oversight. But there have been no reports of psychological breakdowns or other problems that Patrick warned the state would face if they didn't approve his ban.
more to come ...
| 
