The Texas House Committee has advanced and amended a pair bills that will ensure rapid access to psychedelic assisted therapy in case the FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) approves the federal legislation.
HB 4014 would set up a study backed state wide into substances used in treating conditions like PTSD and Depression. The second, HB4813, requires that substances reclassified by federal law are similarly regulated under state law.
The sponsors of the bill have stated that the two bills will work in tandem to reduce delays for veterans and other individuals who may benefit from this potentially life-saving treatment.
Both measures were amended by the House Committee on Public Health before they reported them positively on Thursday last week.
Rep. John Bucy III’s (D) revised study bill included changes that would place the program within the Health and Human Services Commission, rather than the Department of State Health Services as originally proposed.
In the amended measure, the earlier language that stated the state’s intention to work with Baylor College of Medicine and University of Texas at Austin Center for Psychedelic Research and Therapy researchers has been removed. The measure clarifies the fact that, to finance the program, “the state may solicit and accept federal money” in addition to “gifts or grants from any source.”
The project would include an assessment of clinical trials and published literature into the efficacy of psychedelics—specifically MDMA, psilocybin and ketamine—as a treatment PTSD, depression and other mental health disorders.
The officials would review FDA action around therapies, evaluate treatment guides and make recommendations in order to ensure that Texas patients could eventually access legal treatments.
On or before December 1, 2020, the Commission would have to submit a final report with the results of its study to legislators in the states, along with “recommendations for legislation, other measures, and/or other steps necessary to assure patient access to psychedelic therapy for post-traumatic disorder, depression and other coexisting conditions, after the United States Food and Drug Administration has approved these therapies.”
This is what’s going to happen. Bucy testified at a previous hearing in last week that “this is going to happen”. This is the study legislation to ensure we are ready for implementation.
This bill will take effect on September 1, this year, and end September 1, 2027.
The other measure favorably reported by the committee at Thursday’s hearing—HB 4813, from Rep. Tom Oliverson (R)—also aims to minimize delay at the state level if and when FDA approves a new drug—such as psilocybin or MDMA—for treatment.
The website for the Legislative Assembly states that the same proposal was amended. However, no text has been published. Oliverson did not respond immediately to MEDCAN24’s request that the amended language be posted on the website.
The bill stated that Texas officials must quickly change the schedule of a drug if the federal government changes its classification.
Oliverson told committee members at an earlier hearing on the bill, “All we are seeking is to amend the statute in order to accelerate this process for these promising compounds which have proven to be highly effective under these conditions.” Oliverson explained to members of the committee at a previous hearing.
He stated that MDMA and psilocybin are currently in the Phase 3 of clinical trials. “They are expected to receive FDA approval any moment now,” he said.
Oliverson is an anesthesiologist. He said, at that time, the goal was “to avoid an unnecessary and lengthy delay” for accessing psychedelic treatments in Texas, in case they are approved by the federal government.
He said: “As an MD, my personal belief is that I would like people to be able to access drugs which work as quickly as possible.”
Lynnette Averill – a Baylor College of Medicine faculty member and the director of Menninger Clinic’s research – also testified at an earlier hearing in support of this measure.
Averill said the proposal would build on a measure passed in Texas in 2021 to study psychedelics as a possible treatment for veterans with PTSD, which she said helped make the state “a pioneer in this space.”
She said that a bill of this nature would continue to build upon the historic move Texas made during the legislative session in 2021.
“We are aware that regulatory processes can be lengthy and complex.” [and] Averill said that the delays were causing “deaths in this instance.” “We are aware of this reality. This is a new mental health crisis. It’s unlike anything else we have ever faced.
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A House Committee in the State Legislature took up last week a bill that prohibits cities from placing citizen initiatives to decriminalize cannabis or other controlled drugs on local ballots.
Just two days after a Senate version of the measure cleared that full chamber, the House State Affairs Committee held a hearing on the companion version from Rep. Jeff Leach (R), with proposed amendments to align both bills.
In recent years, local government members in Texas adopted ordinances and policies that were designed to either decriminalize controlled drugs or to instruct the law enforcement to not enforce the drug laws of the state,” Leach stated, pointing out that Texas Attorney-General Ken Paxton’s (R) lawsuits have been filed against several municipalities that enacted the reform.
It’s not clear why, if the attorney general’s lawsuits assert that local decriminalization laws are already prohibited under statute, the proposed amendments to the code are necessary. The legislation appears to increase penalties and enforcement.
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.
Meanwhile, 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 has 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 be “chaos”. He also said that it was “inefficient” to allow voters to pick and choose the state laws for each city.
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. In 2023, Ground Game released a report that examined the impacts of marijuana reform laws. It concluded that hundreds of people will avoid jail even though they may have caused repercussions from local law enforcement. 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.
Meanwhile, late last month 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. Other proposals include legalizing marijuana for adults, eliminating criminal penalties associated with cannabis possession, and amending the current medical marijuana law in Texas.
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.
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The photo is courtesy Wikimedia/Workman.
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