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The Texas Senate has approved a House-passed bill to expand the state’s medical marijuana program, with amendments, including to restore the addition of chronic pain as a qualifying condition for cannabis after the key provision was stripped out at the legislation’s last committee stop.
The measure from Rep. Cody Harris (R) advanced through the Senate on Tuesday. Because it was amended, it will need to return to the House of Representatives for concurrence before potentially being sent to the governor’s desk.
The measure would add additional dispensaries and expand the state’s list of qualifying conditions to include chronic pain, while also allowing medical marijuana for end-of-life patients in palliative or hospice care.
As passed by the House, the currently limited list of conditions would have also been extended to include glaucoma, traumatic brain injury (TBI), spinal neuropathy, Crohn’s disease or other inflammatory bowel disease and degenerative disc disease. But those conditions were removed in the Senate State Affairs Committee.
The bill will allow patients to access a wider range of cannabis product types, including patches, lotions, suppositories, approved inhalers, nebulizers and and vaping devices.
Members of the Senate State Affairs Committee had also removed chronic pain from the list, drawing criticism from proponents, including Rep. Tom Oliverson (R), who suggested there was an agreement around the issue with Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R), the presiding officer of the Senate.
But while Patrick disputed the characterization of their conversation, the lieutenant governor and lawmakers ultimately reached a deal to reinsert the condition into the bill with an amendment that passed on the floor, among others.
“When you get an opiate, that is the highest level of pain you can get in our bodies, right? The medical board threaded that needle and we are using that definition,” Sen. Charles Perry (R) said on the floor, making the point that those who could qualify for medical cannabis are likely already prescribed opioids. “There wasn’t a legislative definition, but there was a medical one, and we tied it to that.”
Another adopted floor amendment would require any dispensary owner with more than 10 percent control of the business to submit fingerprints for a background check, according to a summary from the Texas Cannabis Policy Center.
Perry, sponsor of the Senate companion version of the legislation, had previously indicated that the House measure that was transmitted to the chamber would likely be amended, calling it a “work in process.”
While the bill as passed by the House would have allowed military veterans to become registered cannabis patients for any medical condition—and allow the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) to further expand the list of qualifying conditions—those provisions were also removed in the Senate committee.
The bill that advanced through the Senate would, however, mandate that the Department of Public Safety (DPS) issue nine additional dispensary licenses, a decrease compared to the measure as introduced that called for 11 new licenses. It would further allow dispensaries to open satellite locations if approved.
Notably, an amendment adopted on the House floor earlier this month would grandfather existing medical cannabis dispensary satellite locations, ensure a competitive business licensing application process, create a timeline for when new licenses must be issued, amend background check rules, allow physicians to determine dosage and remove a 1.2 gram limit for possession by patients and instead let doctors recommend an amount they see fit.
A second amendment approved by House members would require doctors who issue medical cannabis recommendations to report them to the state’s prescription drug monitoring program.
Regulators would be mandated to promulgate rules for the expanded program by October 1, 2025.
If ultimately enacted, the bill would build upon Texas’s current, limited medical marijuana program, which allows patients with one of eight qualifying condition access certain non-smokable cannabis products containing no more than 0.5 percent by dry weight.
This comes in the background of a highly contentious debate over another piece of legislation that was sent to Gov. Greg Abbott (R) this week to ban consumable hemp products containing any amount of THC, even though federal law permits hemp products containing up to 0.3 percent THC by dry weight.
Democrats have attacked the bill as an assault on personal liberty and gone after Patrick, the lieutenant governor, for his zeal around the 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 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.
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 this month, House lawmakers also passed a measure to support research on the therapeutic potential of ibogaine with the aim of encouraging federal approval of the psychedelic.
That bill, SB 2308, would create a grant program through the state Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) to provide funding for clinical trials exploring ibogaine as a potential treatment option for people suffering from opioid use disorder (OUD) and other serious mental health condition
Earlier this month, meanwhile, the Texas House also gave final passage to 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).
Photo courtesy of Mike Latimer.
“}]] The Texas Senate has approved a House-passed bill to expand the state’s medical marijuana program, with amendments, including to restore the addition of chronic pain as a qualifying condition for cannabis after the key provision was stripped out at the legislation’s last committee stop. The measure from Rep. Cody Harris (R) advanced through the Senate Read More
