Texas House of Representatives approved a bill to expand medical marijuana in the state.
The bipartisan bill from Reps. Ken King, R. and Penny Morales Shaw, D. passed on the second reading of the House by a vote of 118-16 on Monday. After a successful third reading, it will be subject to a vote on the final version.
The new measure expands the products available to patients and requires them to meet multiple requirements in order for them become registered as patients.
Texas passed a Compassionate Use Act in 2015 that gave epileptic patients access to cannabis with low THC. King, who spoke on the floor, said that since then the program was expanded to include other medical conditions. But Texans struggle to obtain the medicines they’re allowed to have. The state does not have enough dispensing organisations licensed, and the current laws limit how and where products may be stored and distributed.
The measure allows patients access to cannabis patches, lotions or suppositories as well as approved inhalers and nebulizers. The current limited list would include chronic pain and glaucoma as well as traumatic brain injuries (TBI), degenerative disc diseases, Crohn’s Disease or other inflammatory intestinal disease, or spinal neuropathy.
Veterans of the military would now be able register as cannabis patients to treat any condition. In addition, the Texas Department of State Health Services will be authorized to further extend the list.
The Department of Public Safety would also be required to issue 11 licenses for dispensaries in the eleven designated public health zones across the entire state. If approved, it would allow dispensaries the option to set up satellite locations.
The amendment agreed on grandfathers existing medical cannabis locations. It also amends the application process for patients, ensures cannabis dosages are decided by physicians and creates a deadline for new licenses to be issued.
If passed into law, this bill will significantly improve Texas’s existing, limited medical cannabis program. It currently allows only eight patients to have access to certain non-smokable products of marijuana that do not exceed 0.5 percent dry weight.
Heather Fazio said that this kind of expansion to the Texas Compassionate Use Program was long overdue. Since its conception, TCUP was unreasonably restricting for patients as well as operators. The Texas House and Chairman King deserve our applause for announcing a new program that is more inclusive for sick Texans.
Disclosure: Fazio is a Patreon supporter of MEDCAN24 and contributes a monthly donation to the work.
This bill is moving forward months after the DPS issued a report that stated that “the state’s current limited medical marijuana program does not provide statewide accessibility for patients.” The DPS also recommended that licensed dispensaries should be increased to accommodate the demand.
Recent polling shows that 4/5 of Texas voters would like to see cannabis legalized, in one form or another. Most also wish to relax the laws surrounding marijuana.
Meanwhile in Texas, a House committee approved a Senate-passed bill earlier this month that would prohibit cities from putting any citizen initiative on local ballots that would decriminalize marijuana or other controlled substances—as several localities have already done despite lawsuits from the state attorney general.
According to the proposed amendments, the state law will be changed so that local authorities “may not put an item on the ballot that provides that they local entity won’t fully enforce state drug laws, such as a charter, or charter amendement, which would require that the local authority” does not.
While several courts have previously upheld local cannabis decriminalization laws, an appellate court comprised of three conservative justices appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has recently pushed back against two of those rulings, siding with the state in its legal challenge to the marijuana policy in Austin and San Marcos.
Despite the ongoing litigation and advancement of the House and Senate bills, Texas activists have their targets set on yet another city, Kyle, where they hope put an initiative before voters to enact local marijuana reform at the ballot this coming November.
Abbott attacked the efforts of local governments to reform cannabis.
“Local communities such as towns, cities and counties, they don’t have the authority to override state law,” the governor said last May “If they want to see a different law passed, they need to work with their legislators. Let’s work together to ensure that as a collective, the state will be able to pass some law.
It would create “chaos”, and voters could choose which state laws they wanted to adhere to.
Abbott has previously said that he doesn’t believe people should be in jail over marijuana possession—although he mistakenly suggested at the time that Texas had already enacted a decriminalization policy to that end.
In 2023, Ground Game released a report that looked at the impacts of the marijuana reform laws. The report found that these measures would keep hundreds out of prison, even though they had led to a backlash from the law enforcement agencies in certain cities. Report said that the initiatives had also increased voter participation by appearing on ballots.
Another cannabis decriminalization measure that went before voters in San Antonio that year was overwhelmingly defeated, but that proposal also included unrelated provisions to prevent enforcement of abortion restrictions.
—
MEDCAN24 has been tracking the hundreds of bills relating to cannabis, psychedelics or drug policies that have passed through state legislatures as well as Congress in this past year. Patreon subscribers who donate at least $25/month gain access to interactive maps, charts, and hearing schedules so that they do not miss anything.
Discover more about the marijuana bills tracker. Become a patron on Patreon and you will have access.
—
Meanwhile, in March the Texas Senate approved a bill that cannabis advocates and stakeholders said would effectively eradicate the state’s hemp industry, prohibiting consumable products derived from the plant that contain any amount of THC.
That, as well as another measure from Rep. Joe Moody (D) to decriminalize cannabis statewide, is one of the latest of nearly two dozen cannabis-related proposals filed so far in Texas for the current legislative session. Some of the other proposals would remove criminal penalties from cannabis possession, legalize adult use marijuana and amend existing laws on medical marijuana.
Moody sponsored a similar marijuana decriminalization bill last legislative session, in 2023. That measure, HB 218, passed the House on an 87–59 vote but later died in a Senate committee.
The House had already passed earlier cannabis decriminalization proposals during the two previous legislative sessions, in 2021 and 2019. But the efforts have consistently stalled in the Senate amid opposition from the lieutenant governor.
Separately, the Texas House last week passed a pair of bills designed to ensure speedy access to psychedelic-assisted therapy in the event of federal approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Colorado Lawmakers Send Bill to Governor To Streamline Marijuana Regulatory Restriction,
AnonMoos. Image element.
MEDCAN24 could not exist without readers’ support. Please consider making a Patreon monthly pledge if you depend on our cannabis journalism for information.
