Texas Legislators Approve Medicinal Marijuana As Opioid Replacement While Updating THC Limit!
On Monday, lawmakers in Texas passed a bill that would let doctors give patients medical marijuana if they have a condition that causes long-term pain that would normally be treated with opioids. Rep. Stephanie Klick’s (R) bill, which would also replace the THC limit set by the state’s current limited medical cannabis law, was approved by the House Public Health Committee about a week after the committee heard testimony about it at a first hearing.
This happened a few weeks after a different House committee unanimously passed a bill to make it less illegal to have cannabis in the state and make it easier to get your record erased. The medical marijuana expansion bill, on the other hand, would replace the THC limit of 1% for cannabis oil with a dose of 10 milligrams per milliliter.
As it was originally written, the bill would have raised the limit to 5% THC, but the committee voted on a replacement amendment that switches to the volumetric dose method. It would also add a tenth condition that qualifies patients for low-THC marijuana products: “A condition that causes chronic pain for which a doctor would otherwise prescribe an opioid.”
Importantly, the bill also says that the Department of State Health Services (DSHS) could add more debilitating medical conditions that qualify patients for the cannabis program through rulemaking. If the bill is passed, it would go into effect on September 1, 2023.
Patients with epilepsy, a seizure disorder, multiple sclerosis, spasticity, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, autism, cancer, an incurable neurodegenerative disease, post-traumatic stress disorder, or spasticity can get low-THC medical cannabis.
This year, more than 1,000 bills about cannabis, psychedelics, and drug policy are being discussed in state legislatures and in Congress. People who give at least $25 per month on Patreon can use our interactive maps, charts, and hearing schedule so they don’t miss anything.
HB 1805 has been amended and passed out of committee! It heads to the Calendars Committee to be scheduled for consideration by the full #Texas House of Representatives. #TXLege #TexasNORML #NORML
Ask your Representative to vote YES when the time comes: https://t.co/H0DburlAei pic.twitter.com/sdDf7RTz7g
— Texas NORML (@TexasNORML) March 20, 2023
Advocates would like the conservative legislature to pass more comprehensive medical cannabis laws or end prohibition altogether, but the measure passed by the committee is a big step forward and recognizes the potential of cannabis as an alternative to opioids.
The text of the substitute amendment that was passed before Monday’s panel vote is not yet available, so it is not clear right away if the bill was changed in any other important ways. Now that the measure has been changed, it will be sent to the Calendars Committee so that the floor can vote on it.
In 2019, the Texas House passed a bill to make cannabis less illegal, but the Senate did not move it forward. Since then, lawmakers haven’t been able to pass any more broad cannabis laws in recent sessions. Gov. Greg Abbott (R) said that he doesn’t think people should go to jail for having small amounts of marijuana.
But last year, the governor was wrong when he said that state lawmakers had already passed the policy. In September, the Republican Speaker of the House, Dade Phelan, said that he would work to pass criminal justice reform during the 2023 session. He also said again that he was in favor of lowering the penalties for marijuana possession.
In 2018, the Texas Republican Party backed a platform plank that said marijuana possession should not be a crime, but this was later changed. A poll that came out earlier this month found that most Texans think the state’s laws on marijuana should be “less strict.”
Also this month, three bills were introduced in Texas to do more research on how psychedelics can help people. If passed, these measures would add to a small psychedelics study law that was passed last session. In Texas, there has also been a lot of local action on marijuana issues in the past few years, thanks to home rule laws.
Large cities like Austin have already decriminalized on their own through the ballot box, and this past November, voters in five other Texas cities did the same. In May, San Antonio voters will have the chance to vote on a measure to make marijuana less illegal, stop the enforcement of laws that limit abortion and get rid of no-knock warrants.
