Texas reined in recreational THC for more medical marijuana this legislative session

In 2019, Texas lawmakers embraced the potential to boost the state’s agricultural market by legalizing hemp products derived from cannabis plants with less than 0.3% of THC.

Six years later, SB 3 intends to shut down the $8 billion hemp industry and cut its estimated 50,000 jobs when the ban takes effect in September.

Critics say the hemp industry has exploited a loophole in the 2019 law to the tune of more than 8,000 retailers now selling THC-laced edibles, drinks, vapes, and flower buds.

The proposed law would ban consumable hemp products that contain any synthetic cannabinoid, often known as delta-8. Non-intoxicating and non-psychoactive CBD or CBG would remain legal.

People found in possession of a product with those intoxicating cannabis compounds could face a fine of up to $500. Higher fines and jail time would be possible for repeat offenders.

Hemp industry leaders and advocates have denied any harmful intentions and are in favor of regulations on the industry rather than a ban.

Aging Texans, veterans, and parents of children with mental illness or special needs have spoken out about the benefits of hemp, including the ease of access, the variety of products available to them, and the lower price. In contrast, concerned parents demanded a ban because they fear children would be harmed from recreational use.

The Texas Hemp Business Council reported that it delivered 5,000 letters to Abbott’s office earlier this week, along with a petition signed by over 120,000 people, urging the governor to veto the bill. Abbott has until June 22 to decide on a veto.

In Texas, licensed medical cannabis providers must house all operations — including cannabis cultivation, processing, extracting, manufacturing, testing, and dispensing — under one roof.

State regulations also prohibit inventory storage of medical cannabis products in multiple locations, so products must be distributed from the central dispensary. Any prescriptions scheduled for pickup outside the central dispensary must be driven daily to and from the pickup location — sometimes hundreds of miles round-trip.

This has made their products more expensive and limited where the medical marijuana program can reach, hampering the small medical cannabis market in Texas.

HB 46 aims to help by expanding the program to include more popular products such as prescribed inhalers and vaping devices, allow off-site storage and add nine dispensers, bringing the total to 12. It also adds traumatic brain injuries, chronic pain, Crohn’s disease, and terminal illnesses to the list of qualifying conditions.

The first three dispensers will be selected from the previously submitted 2015 list of dispensers and then made available to the public.

The expansion of the medical marijuana program will go into effect in September if Abbott signs it into law.

Among drug-related bills that received less attention was SB 2308, which will make Texas a hub for ibogaine-related research, development, treatment, manufacturing, and distribution. This will be accomplished by creating a consortium that includes higher education institutions, drug developers, nonprofits, and other stakeholders to secure U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for a treatment.

Ibogaine is a psychedelic found in the roots of the iboga plant, primarily found in Africa, and has been used for centuries during shamanistic rituals due to its ability to induce hallucinations in large doses. The drug has been illegal in many countries, but scientists recently announced a study finding that, in low doses, ibogaine might have beneficial uses to treat addiction, PTSD, and brain injuries.

The bill could essentially give Texas a stake in any future revenue that may come from the state developing a medical use for ibogaine.

The program will be funded through a $50 million appropriation from the state’s general fund.

Fentanyl, a potent drug commonly mixed with other substances and has caused the deaths of more than 7,000 Texans in the last six years, is odorless and tasteless, making detection nearly impossible without specialized equipment.

Fentanyl test strips are among the cheapest and easiest ways to prevent overdoses, but for a third time, legislation to legalize them failed in the Senate.

HB 1644, which would have legalized opioid drug testing strips, never got a hearing in the Senate despite passing unanimously in the House.

The main argument against drug testing strips has been that it encourages continued drug use, but advocates deny this claim, saying that once someone is thinking about their safety, it is by the time they are getting close to quitting.

Senate Bill 1732, which would have allowed nurses and physician assistants to prescribe medication-assisted treatment, like methadone and buprenorphine, for opioid use disorders, also never received a committee hearing.

A smaller step lawmakers made to address overdoses comes in House Bill 4783, which requires the Texas Health and Human Services Commission to prepare a report every two years for lawmakers to evaluate the distribution of opioid overdose reversal drugs, like Narcan. The report will be required to create a statewide goal for opioid reversal drugs and include an estimate of insufficiencies in the current supply and a plan to address overdoses in high-risk areas.