Gov Abbott signs medical cannabis expansion bill HB 1535 into law

Late Tuesday afternoon Governor Abbott signed HB 1535 expanding medical cannabis in Texas into law.

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Learn how to become a medical cannabis patient in Texas

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The signature comes days after Abbott signaled on Twitter that he liked that the medical cannabis bill would expand access for veterans to receive treatment and that he would sign it. The announcement was met with both praise and criticism for expanding, but being too little too late for Texans. While it was approved primarily because he would sign it, it was primarily criticized because of conditions removed and the cap only going to 1%, all while there was no open conversation in the Senate or from the governor this session on what was transpiring.

HB 1535 will expand the list of conditions to include everyone with PTSD (not just veterans) and all forms of cancer. This has been stated as doubling the amount of THC available when the reality is that all that has taken place is the amount available in a single product has increased. It will reduce the amount of carrier oil needing in a tincture and increase the amount allowed in a single edible item. Doctors are already prescribing THC amounts, it was taking more ingestion of carrier oils to get that dose. Texas does not allow flower products to be smoked as part of the program.

This follows after Rep. Stephanie Klick did not go against the amendments in the Senate regarding TCUP. The new revision of the bill with conditions removed and a lowered cap, will not go to the conference committee. This means that both chamber’s leaders will sign off on the bill and it is on its way to Gov. Abbott’s desk.

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The bill saw language allowing DSHS to add conditions as the department saw fit removed in the Senate committee hearings, along with language pertaining to chronic pain being removed simultaneously. The language for institutional research boards and research programs stayed intact. The following conditions are going to be permitted in the new update to the law on September 1, 2021:

i) epilepsy;
(ii) a seizure disorder;
(iii) multiple sclerosis;
(iv) spasticity;
(v) amyotrophic lateral sclerosis;
(vi) autism;
(vii) [terminal] cancer; [or]
(viii) an incurable neurodegenerative disease;
(ix) post-traumatic stress disorder; or
(x) a medical condition that is approved for a research program under Subchapter F, Chapter 487, Health and Safety Code, and for which the patient is receiving treatment under that program;