Texas GOP Leaders Aren't Lying About THC, But They're Not Telling The Truth

By now, everyone, except for those living under a rock, has caught wind of an attempt to completely ban the sale of hemp-derived tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) products in Texas. Senate Bill 3, which slid through both chambers of the Legislature during the 89th Legislative Session, was halted by a buzzer-beating veto from Gov. Greg Abbott. The topic is now slated near the top of the agenda for the special session, which begins next week.

Leading up to the House and Senate passage of SB 3, a roster of THC dissenters, led by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, emerged, encouraging legislators to vote in support of the ban, tying the products to severe health conditions, substance abuse disorder and even death. Many of the claims have been debunked, or at the very least, have been exposed as exaggerations.

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick tossed a package of THC-infused snacks at a reporter during a Wednesday press conference about Senate Bill 3.

"You want to go and eat a bag of this tonight and see if you're here tomorrow?"

Read more: https://t.co/fF6YtniYgD pic.twitter.com/qlPKCLhnaW

— Chron (@chron) May 28, 2025

But that hasn’t stopped officials from resurrecting some of the original rumors from the height of the War on Drugs in their most extreme examples. Here's the truth about THC and the mental health crisis, addiction and death:

Mental Health Crisis

Echoing the sentiments of Patrick, Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Waybourn created a false link between THC products and schizophrenia this week in an interview with NBC.

“I believe THC is at the tip of the spear, and I’ve talked to several mental health people and they absolutely agree that high levels of THC is causing… are part of the cause of our mental health crisis.”

When asked to clarify what mental health conditions Waybourn was referring to, he said people who use THC “become paranoid” and “schizophrenic.”

There is no definitive proof that the consumption of THC can cause severe mental health conditions, but there has been research that suggests THC misuse can exacerbate existing conditions or create episodes of psychosis.

“There is evidence supporting the notion that high THC content products can cause new onset psychosis and can also exacerbate psychosis in those with an established psychotic disorder,” Dr. Deepak Cyril D’Souza wrote in an email.

D’Souza is the director of the Yale Center for the Science of Cannabis and Cannabinoids. A team of researchers at his center further studied the causal link between THC and schizophrenia, finding that people with genetic predispositions are the most vulnerable.

“The biggest risk factor for cannabis-induced psychosis and schizophrenia is a family history of schizophrenia, suggesting a genetic predisposition,” reads the study. “For those with a family member diagnosed with schizophrenia, using cannabis is a high-risk gamble.”

The study also found that high-strain products are especially dangerous, and users should look for products with less than a 15% concentration.

Dr. Francesca Filbey, a psychiatrist and cannabinoid researcher at the University of Texas at Dallas, says there’s a third factor to consider when assessing psychosis caused by THC consumption: age. But she also noted that not everyone who ever consumes THC will experience adverse effects, and consumers should remain educated.

“Age of onset use, adolescent use is the most critical period where you’re really affecting neural pathways, and that could lead to changes,” she said. “What we know is that not everybody who uses ends up with psychosis. That is important to remember and to inform people of.”

As for a ban potentially serving as a solution to the ongoing mental health crisis, Filbey says the attempt is misguided.

“Suggesting it’s to prevent mental health issues is not going to resolve what they think it’s going to resolve,” the psychiatrist said. “I think that’s likely what we’re going to see, the mental health crisis is going to continue on.”

Addiction

Since the production of Reefer Madness, a '30s-era movie about a group of teenagers lured into smoking marijuana and then descending into addiction and a life of violent crime, the addictive properties of marijuana and all of its variants have been hotly debated.

Research indicates that cannabis is addictive, and cannabis use disorder is medically recognized as a diagnosable condition by the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

"Is cannabis addictive? No question about that," D'Souza said to the Texas Tribune.

According to Yale Medicine, “about 10% of people who begin smoking cannabis will become addicted, and 30% of current users meet the criteria for addiction.”

Long-term cannabis addiction can cause damage to the lungs and has been shown to weaken memory. But unlike other addictive substances, it is unlikely to result in death, and the withdrawal symptoms of hot flashes, irritability and restlessness are relatively tame.

Filbey actually studied the brain scans of regular cannabis users to compare their neural responses to abusers of other substances like alcohol and cocaine.

“What we found was evidence for the first time that people who use cannabis regularly do respond in the same way to cannabis cues as other people towards other substances of abuse,” she wrote in a summation of her findings.

Death

By far, Patrick’s most popular claim is that highly potent THC products are fatal when improperly consumed, especially by children.

As recently as 2020, the Drug Enformcement Adminsitration repo[rted that there had never been any deaths linked to marijuana overdose. But in 2023, a Virginia mother pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter charges after her 4-year-old son ate a fatal amount of infused gummies. Experts have voiced that it is one of the first THC-related fatalities ever recorded. But the NIH confirms that THC products are dangerously advancing in their potencies.

Still, the risk of death at the rate Patrick speaks about is highly unlikely.

"There is a theoretical THC limit that could lead to an overdose...but it's basically impossible to consume a level that high," Dr. Jeff Chen, director of the University of California, Los Angeles’s Cannabis Research Initiative, told Business Insider.

Allen Police Chief Steve Dye, who has led the recent raids of North Texas smokeshops, has also exaggerated the fatality risks of THC products.

“Labels on many products do not reflect the actual level of THC inside the packaging, which is leading to accidental intoxications, overdoses and increased addiction for these psychoactive products, particularly to our youth,” Dye recently said during a Texas Senate hearing.

The chief also claimed citizens in his jurisdiction were dying of THC overdoses in hospitals and the county jail.

A local photographer decided to fact-check the chief’s overdose claims and submitted an open records request to the Allen Police Department for all recorded overdose deaths in the last 365 days. There were two overdoses on the report, but both were from opiates, and one of them had no THC in its toxicology report.