For those who were not already aware, 2019 is the year of marijuana reform in Texas. At least that is what the evidence suggests out of the Texas State House of Representatives.
Today, two medical marijuana bills were scheduled through the House Calenders Committee to be debated and voted on the House floor on Monday, May 6th. This marks a total of four cannabis bills to be heard in the House chamber, the most ever.
The two bills are Representative Eddie Lucio III’s HB 1365 and Representative Stephanie Klick’s HB 3703. While both bills are similar in that they don’t raise the .5% THC threshold or change the prescription language under the current Texas Compassionate Use Program, they widely differ in terms of patient access.
Klick’s bill would change the current law to allow patients with all forms of epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and other forms of spasticity to access the states low THC program. 1365 would reach further and allow a broad array of conditions like cancer, Crohn’s disease and PTSD to gain access.
Another key component of Lucio’s bill would add a state cannabis therapeutic board of advisors that would have authority to amend TCUP every six months. This would allow patients and activists to work with another entity centrally focused on bettering patient access to cannabis oil in Texas as opposed to battling the Legislature every 2 years. Specific information on Lucio’s bill can be found here.
Last month, two other cannabis bills were heard and voted on in the Texas House: Representative Tracy King’s industrial hemp bill HB 1325 and Representative Joe Moody’s penalties reduction bill HB 63.
King’s bill received a unanimous super majority vote and would essentially align Texas hemp laws with the 2018 federal Farm Bill. It has also received a Senate hearing on Monday, May 6th in the Senate Agriculture Committee. Specific information on the bill can be found here.
Moody’s bill also received a super majority vote of 103 yays and 42 nays and turns possession of up to one ounce of marijuana from a Class B misdemeanor to a Class C. This would help end tens of thousands of arrests across the state. Currently, Texas leads the nation in marijuana arrests at over 66,000 per year. Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick declared the bill dead upon arrival but some in the Senate are attempting to garner support for a public hearing anyway. Specific information on the bill can be found here.
Regardless of what happens throughout the rest of the 86th Texas Legislature, we can all look back on 2019 as the year that Texas finally took the cannabis issue seriously.