Texas legislators have sent a bill that will significantly expand Texas’ medical marijuana program to the Governor.
After the Senate approved the House bill with some amendments, bi-cameral negotiators negotiated a deal over the weekend. Both chambers then signed off on the compromise Sunday.
Now, the measure is headed to Gov. Greg Abbott, R. to sign into law.
The final version of the bill—which cleared the House on a 138-1 vote and the Senate by a vote of 31-0—would expand the state’s list of medical cannabis qualifying conditions to include chronic pain, traumatic brain injury (TBI), Crohn’s disease and other inflammatory bowel diseases, while also allowing end-of-life patients in palliative or hospice care to use marijuana.
The measure would additionally allow patients to access a wider range of cannabis product types—including patches, lotions, suppositories, approved inhalers, nebulizers and vaping devices.
It would also mandate that DPS increase the number of licensed medical cannabis businesses to 15 from the existing three. The bill would also allow for satellite dispensaries.
House lawmakers rejected on Friday Senate changes to the Bill, which reduced in scope the proposed expansion of the medical cannabis program.
In the version of the bill passed last month by the House, chronic pain, glaucoma and spinal neuropathy would be added to the list. It would also have allowed military veterans to become registered cannabis patients for any medical condition—and authorized the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) to further expand the list of qualifying conditions.
The Senate State Affairs Committee removed these provisions before the bill was brought to the Senate floor.
Rep. Tom Oliverson, (R), suggested that there had been an agreement with the Lt. Governor about chronic pain. Dan Patrick, the Republican presiding Officer of the Senate. Patrick denied the description of the conversation. However, both the lieutenant-governor and legislators reached an agreement to reinstate the condition in the bill through an amendment passed by the Senate.
The Senate’s version stated that patients with chronic pain could access medical marijuana only if they first used opioids for 90 consecutive days. However, the final draft crafted by conference committees does not include such a condition. The agreement also adds TBI as another qualifying condition.
The resolutions passed by lawmakers on Sunday added Crohn’s and other inflammatory diseases to the bill, something that Sen. Charles Perry said in the Senate was “inadvertently overlooked” late yesterday night.
The final bill, which is now on the Governor’s desk will allow patients to register for up to one year and receive four refills from a 90 day supply. The total amount of THC allowed in medical cannabis packaging, devices, and containers is 1 gram, but the maximum dose per package or container will be 10 mg.
On Sunday, lawmakers also passed resolutions clarifying that doctors “may prescribe to patients more than one low-THC package of cannabis in 90 days.”
The final version of the bill would permit physicians to request that the Department report to lawmakers the fact that cannabis is beneficial to a particular condition. Lawmakers could then potentially expand the program.
This bill includes provisions that ensure patient privacy and only allow access to the Department, physicians registered with it and licensed dispensaries.
The expanded program would require the regulation to be promulgated by regulators before October 1.
Heather Fazio told MEDCAN24, “For the last 10 years the majority of patients have not been allowed to participate in the Compassionate Usage Program.” “We are happy that the Legislature is now expanding the Compassionate Use Program in a meaningful manner.”
(Disclosure – Fazio provides monthly support to MEDCAN24 via a Patreon pledge.
The bill, if it becomes law, would expand Texas’s limited medical marijuana program that allows qualifying patients to access non-smoking cannabis products with no more than 0.5% THC dry weight.
The background to this is a heated debate about another bill that Abbott received last month. It was intended to prohibit hemp-based products containing THC in any form, despite federal law allowing hemp products to contain up to 0.3% THC dry weight.
Democrats are attacking the bill for being an assault on the right to personal freedom and have targeted Patrick, the lieutenant Governor, because of his enthusiasm around this ban.
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A recent poll found that four in five Texas voters want to see marijuana legalized in some form, and most also want to see regulations around cannabis relaxed.
Meanwhile in Texas, a House committee approved a Senate-passed bill last 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.
Under the proposal, state law would be amended to say that local entities “may not place an item on a ballot, including a municipal charter or charter amendment, that would provide that the local entity will not fully enforce” state drug laws.
While several courts have previously upheld local cannabis decriminalization laws, an appellate court comprised of three conservative justices appointed by the governor 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.
Separately lawmakers have also advanced measure to support research on the therapeutic potential of ibogaine with the aim of encouraging federal approval of the psychedelic.
This bill (SB 2308) would establish a grant through the Health and Human Services Commission of California (HHSC), to fund clinical trials that explore ibogaine for treatment options for those with opioid use disorders (OUDs) and serious mental conditions.
Last month, meanwhile, the Texas House also passed a pair of bills designed to ensure speedy access to psychedelic-assisted therapy in the event of federal approval from Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Texas City’s Marijuana Decriminalization Law saved nearly half a million dollars as arrests plummeted, report shows
Brian Shamblen provided the photo.
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