I can't speak as intelligently on the THC debate, other than my continued view that our state leadership sucks donkey taint.
But I do have personal experience with synthetically produced narcotics, namely Delta 9 and most recently, Kratom. Not to hijack a thread with family trauma, but last year my stepson went into rehab after a Delta 9 addiction helped throw him off the rails his first year of college. My wife and I read up on synthetic Delta 9, which for some kids with ADHD (like him) and other related mental developmental disorders, it can really fuck up your brain wiring in a way that natural pot does not. And most recently, he relapsed with Kratom. And what's the similarity with the two? He was able to freely buy both in most convenience stores in town. While Kratom, like THC, is a naturally-occurring plant, its synthetic derivatives can produce symptoms and resulting addiction very similar to opioids. It's just bad bad shit, and reports of overdosing on Kratom are growing. While my stepson has some personal accountability in all this, I have growing anger over the fact that stores can legally peddle this crap to 18-year-olds.
So as much as Dan Patrick's THC crusade may have been yet another annoying waste of time our MAGA controlled state government, I'm increasingly in favor of laws to curb or ban over-the-counter sales of this synthetic bullshit.
tl;dr - Dan Patrick and Kratom can both get fucked.