Texas’s incoming Democratic lieutenant governor says there are a number of different options for how the state can move forward with enacting cannabis reform now that she and other members of her party won key victories in last week’s midterm elections.
In an interview with MS NOW on Saturday, Lt. Gov.-elect Vikki Goodwin (D) noted that she and voters “had a lot of conversations on the campaign trail” about the hemp THC product ban that incumbent Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R), who she defeated at the ballot, pushed in the legislature.
“Now we have an opportunity to make sure that we’re supporting small businesses that are in the hemp industry and supporting the veterans and people that use that those products to manage their pain, PTSD and so many other things,” she said.
When the host asked Goodwin about the opportunity for broader marijuana legalization in Texas, the incoming lieutenant governor said that “we still have to have a lot of conversations about that.”
“There’s differing opinions even within the industry,” she said. “There’s been conversations about, do we expand our TCUP, the Texas Compassionate Use Program, which is medicinal marijuana, or do we legalize it altogether? So we still need to have conversations about that.”
In a separate interview with WFAA-TV, Goodwin reiterated that she is “not in favor of a THC ban” along the lines of the one that Patrick got through the legislature last session but which was subsequently vetoed by Gov. Greg Abbott (R).
Following that veto, however, state agencies advanced restrictive rules that effectively banned many hemp products and which are currently being challenged in court.
“I think that we should have the Department of State Health Services unwind the rules that they put in place because that’s legislative,” the lieutenant governor-elect said. “They changed the law through those rules, and they don’t have the authority to do that.”
Goodwin specifically thanked members of the hemp industry during her victory speech on election night last week, including the Hemp Business Council.
During the campaign, Goodwin made clear that she supports marijuana reform—including by hosting a “Legalize It” rally and organizing cannabis-focused phonebanking efforts.
She also claimed that Patrick pushed to ban hemp THC products in order to benefit alcohol companies, which happen to be among his substantial campaign contributors.
“We’ve seen the lieutenant governor take hundreds of thousands of dollars from the alcohol industry, and that’s what drove the policy around the ban on THC,” she said. “I am in favor of treating THC like alcohol. A part of my healthcare plan is taxing THC like we do alcohol and cigarettes and use that for healthcare.”
Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa (D) has said she wants to let Texas voters decide on marijuana legalization via a legislative ballot referendum.
A strong bipartisan majority of Texans support legalizing or decriminalizing marijuana, according to recent polling.
Separately last week, voters in Houston approved a ballot initiative to make misdemeanor marijuana possession the “lowest possible enforcement priority” for local police while also banning no-knock warrants.
Meanwhile, Sen.-elect James Talarico (D-TX) has said he wants to parter with President Donald Trump to federally legalize marijuana.
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