What Happens if Greg Abbott Doesn't Sign the THC Ban Bill?

Dallas Observer ^ | 6/17/25 | Alyssa Fields

[DallasBiff]

A headline regular during the 89th legislative session was an all-encompassing ban on hemp-derived tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) products, which landed on Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk on May 27. By law, the governor has an additional 20 days following the final day of the session to take action on bills that pass in the session's last 10 days.

This means he has until Sunday, June 22, to sign or veto Senate Bill 3, which could determine the fate of Texas’ growing hemp industry. Without any indication of what he will do and mounting pressure from his Republican associates, Abbott seems to be running out the clock.

[DallasBiff]

I did partake in smoking marijuana 50 years ago and haven't since.

Today the THC levels are 100 times than the 70's.

Heard a lot of callers on local radio saying they were vets and can't live without THC for their physical and mental pain.

[Ueriah]

THC in the 1970s was 2-3%. THC today ranges up to about 32%, where the plant maxes out without genetic editing, which we will probably see in another five or ten years.

So your point is correct, but the math is off by a bit.

Cheers! :)

[Liberty Valance]

If the THC ban bill is signed then they’ll have to arrest/fine Willie and several million like him. I suppose that could be a new revenue stream for the State. Prohibition always works! /sarc

[Mathews]

I haven’t smoked since 1987. 20 years military and then heavy industry where the whiz quiz is guaranteed. Tell you what though, I’m just a bit jealous of my buddies who can smoke...

[GenXPolymath]

Texas has a 0.3% THC limit for legal products sold anywhere in the state.

The law he is probably ignoring is a ban on even 0.3%.

Boomers get all worked up with the mention of THC they been watching reefer madness to many times.

[Liberty Valance]

Roll Me Up - Willie Nelson

[shelterguy]

“””Boomers get all worked up with the mention of THC they been watching reefer madness to many times.””

they been watching STONERS too many times.

[GenXPolymath]

Texas still doesn’t allow actual weed sales. This ban is for tonics , seltzer and chewing gum or lozenges.

At 0?3% legal limit you cannot get high on them, but people with IBS, chronic migraines, Crohn’s disease, lupus a host of inflammatory response disorders all benefit from Delta 8 and Delta 9. There is no societal reason to ban such low concentrations it’s why they were set so low in the first place. This is boomers being ignorant boomers and abbot will pay at the polls for this very unpopular bill if he signs it. Which is why he won’t he is see that boomers are dying fast and are out numbered 3 to 1 it’s not wise to anger that 2/3 majority. Texas would pass fully legal weed by 70% margins if we had referendum mandates here the polls time and time again show it a legalized marijuana bill would pass with a wide margin in Texas.

[reed13k]

Issue I have is the places where you can’t just grow hemp for the by products like Rope, fabric, etc....lot of good can come out of hemp for those purposes.

[Ikeon]

Too many freepers jump on the " Reefer Madness" band wagon whenever THC is mentioned. Some people buy gummies or other foods with limited amounts of thc.

the thc is measured and put into the product as a dose. Its not tony Montana burying his face in a pile of smoking Marijuana. Its people taking a dose for pain, ptsd, anxiety, glaucoma. Banning all of it out rigbt is not the solution.

[GenXPolymath]

Frankly we don’t care y’all will be dead soon.

I have never smoked, I have watched people slowly die from cancer with and without chemo every single one who took gunmies with real THC in them was better off for it. Same for a mother in law with advanced lupus, who barely eats due to nausea and vomiting. She goes to Oklahoma where they being a completely red state have legal THC for people like her Oklahoma has more younger people than Texas it shows.

Dallas has decriminalized as has Dallas County, so has Austin, Travis County , Houston ,Harris County, San Antonio not sure about Bexar County as well. So it’s largely symbolic as 25 million of 30 living in those cities. Heck Dallas set the limit at 4 OUNCES not 0.3% no one cares in Dallas what boomers think.

[packrat35]

In other words, the hippies get that much higher and stupid now than back then...

[38special]

Right, this over the stuff doesn’t even get you high, so I’ve heard. Never tried it and never will. The GOP should favor freedom instead of Prohibition. They will lose voters.

[philman_36]

You two KNOW, or SHOULD know, that THC levels are based upon seized drugs.

Can you, with a straight face, tell me that far more potent weed isn't grown these days than that grown in past decades? Potent weed was available back then, but in FAR less quantity.

Wouldn't the crime reports also show an increase in the potentcy of current blends of today's marijuana?

Final question...who buys ditch weed (low potency) when high potency weed is available, thus creating a higher potency report due to the the greater quantity seized?

And hemp is low in THC and many useful items are made from it.

Hemp and marijuana are different varieties of the same plant, Cannabis sativa, but they differ significantly in their THC content. Hemp is defined as having 0.3% THC or less, while marijuana typically has higher THC concentrations. Confuse the language, confuse the debate.

[GenXPolymath]

Abbot is not stupid he knows how unpopular even 0.3% is. Cities where 25 million Texans live and who do have direct accountability to their voters have stepped around the state to decriminalize marijuana not just low amounts or medical. Those cities prohibit their officers, DAs and courts from enforcing the state laws that 70% if given the option to vote would pass exactly that. So it’s moot just don’t get caught in the redneck parts of Texas and it’s already defacto legal.

[Dr. Sivana]

Prohibition always works!

It kept next door neighbors from fouling up the smell in my own yard when it was in place in Arizona. Now that recreational use is allowed, half the billboards are for cannibis promotion (pizzas, gummies, burgers, women owned, BOGO, Free wraps for dad on Father's Day, etc.) the other half are for law firms. We wound up moving in part because of the invasive smell. It is also that much harder for me to explain the dangers of the drug to my own children.

Quality of life in Arizona is WAY down when pot became less regulated than tobacco (those billboards have NO warnings on them).

When the medical marijuana people joined up with with the recreational pot people and accepted the Tommy Chongs (or is it Cheech) and Woody Harrelsons, I lost all interest in hearing them out. The libertarians who said that legalizingit will take all the profit out of illegal and make that go away, and that use was widespread and couldn't get worse? Well, it got worse.

We can look forward to a big bump in schizophrenics. The legal taboo kept the potheads from being too obnoxious. Now that's gone.

[nagant]

The government is not our nanny. Freedom should prevail. Laws should be restricted to outlaw actions against other people, not actions against oneself.

[jacknhoo]

“It kept next door neighbors from fouling up the smell in my own yard when it was in place in Arizona.”

_______________

It’s not legal here in Georgia and I smell it nearly every single day out in my suburban yard, hahaha! Not sure where it’s coming from and couldn’t care less.

Should we outlaw BBQ’s and cigars and pipe smoking too?

[fr_freak]

Heard a lot of callers on local radio saying they were vets and can't live without THC for their physical and mental pain.

Marijuana has proven anti-inflammatory properties, and the THC can really help with anxiety (as long as you don't do too much at once, of course). So most pain caused by inflammation, which is a whole hell of a lot, can be reduced using marijuana. And, while there are always downsides, the nice thing about marijuana is that it is not physically addictive.

For those who don't already know that the modern medical establishment is full of hacks and pharmaceutical shills, the medical establishment will gladly ridicule the use of marijuana as a pain reliever while wholeheartedly prescribing opioids like vicadin for simple pain, thereby quickly turning their patients into drug addicts.

[Dr. Sivana]

Should we outlaw BBQ’s and cigars and pipe smoking too?

I have not known cigar or pipe smokers to do that except at church picnics, and then only by the horseshoe pits. Even my anti-tobacco wife likes the aroma of nice pipe tobacco.

I lived for four years in Georgia when there was a push first for CBD, then for medical marijuana. Apparently your suburban neighbors have glaucoma or cancer, and can't keep the stench to themselves. Or they may have found an unscrupulous California doctor who prescribes unlimited weed for bunions. Or they are flagrant lawbreakers with little regard for neighbors (you may not care, but they likely have neighbors on the other side). It is always the same pattern: use medical marijuana to get the foot in the door, and it ends up as recreational pot smoking with fewer restrictions than tobacco. I lived for 15 years in Rockford, Illinois. It is not thriving. Slots and legalized cannabis has just made a sketchy area that much worse.