Politics
Texas House Rejects Senate’s Changes To Medical Marijuana Program Expansion Bill
The Texas House has rejected the Senate’s recent changes to a bill that would significantly expand the state’s medical marijuana program, requesting a conference committee to resolve the issues before potentially sending the measure to the governor’s desk.
Just days after the legislation from Rep. Cody Harris (R) moved through the Senate—with amendments that watered down the original proposal—Rep. Ken King (R) said on the House floor on Friday that supporters wanted to go to conference to debate the revisions.
“There were some changes that I don’t agree with, and I move not to concur,” he said, without specifying what provisions were considered unpalatable by supporters. The motion was approved, with King and four other members appointed as conferees.
As it currently stands after coming out of the Senate, 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.
The version passed by the House would have extended the currently limited list of conditions 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 before reaching the floor of that chamber.
The bill would 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.
Another adopted Senate floor amendment would require any dispensary owner with more than 10 percent control of the business to submit fingerprints for a background check.
Sen. Charles Perry (R), 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 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 signed into law, 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 Abbott this month 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.
