Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick's whirlwind post-session tour of Texas last week touched on a number of highlights, wins and other legislative priorities - including a ban that would impact Texas' booming hemp industry.

However, when talking to local media at one of his stops in Lubbock on June 10, Senate Bill 3 — Texas' proposed ban on the $8 billion hemp industry — was brought up, which Patrick advocated for, and Lubbock's state Senator Charles Perry authored .

Patrick said SB 3 will not hurt Texas farmers but is rather aimed at "bad actors" who found a loophole in Texas's 2019 Hemp Bill that legalized hemp products from cannabis plants with less than 0.3% of THC.

"(They) found a loophole to make synthetic cannabis, which is more powerful and more potent than anything we've ever seen before," Patrick said. "It's killing and threatening to kill, damaging young people and young adults who go to these vape shops and smoke shops all around the state."

Patrick said smoke shops around the state "disguise" THC as candy, popcorn, drinks and other snacks, and estimated there are about 8,000 shops in the state. For context, according to Foodie, there were 1,237 McDonald's in Texas in 2024.

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It was also during the legislative process to get support for SB3 that Patrick said lawmakers heard testimony on the deadly impact of THC.

"The testimony we had was horrendous," Patrick said. "A woman, whose 22-year-old son was on this THC they got in the smoke shop, sat out in front of a train. Another young man, 15 years of age, in Houston in February came home and shot his mother three times, and just this past weekend, up in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, they had to transport seven seniors to a hospital because someone was handing out high-power gummies that they bought at a smoke shop."

Perry also took this time to remind everyone that pot is illegal at a federal level and that he warned the shops of the consequences if they tried to expand the THC market back when the Hemp Bill was passed.

"I warned them, if you get cute and do something foolish and expand a THC market, we will take it away from you," Perry said. "I sympathized with the fact that they did it, but they were warned not to do it, and our public deserves better.

The bill passed both the House and Senate by May 27 and now awaits Gov. Greg Abbott's signature. As of June 10, the governor has not signed it.

The Texas Tribune reports that the bill is currently facing bipartisan backlash from advocacy groups, with some advocating for the governor not to veto it.

The A-J's sister paper — Wichita Falls Times Record-News — even reported several people protesting outside Patrick's press conference in Wichita Falls.

The Tribune is also reporting that the governor has not tipped his intentions on the proposed law, leaving him with three choices — veto, sign or nothing - and letting it become law without his signature.

But it was also in the same breath about banning the hemp industry in its entirety that Patrick also spoke about lawmakers expanding medical use of low-THC cannabis.

This was done through House Bill 46 — which also has not been signed yet — and which would impact the Texas Compassionate Use Program (TCUP).

"We're increasing satellite locations we've never had before, and this is where you go and get a doctor prescription for a low dose of THC that they prescribe that is safe for you if you have chronic pain, if you have PTSD, if you have cancer and other diseases." Patrick said. "People who truly need help are not going to be not getting the help, because what they're doing right now is self medicating at a level they could actually be damaging their health."

With both bills pending and no sign of where the governor's stance on them, it is yet to be seen what the future has in store for hemp and THC in Texas.