Texas House Approves Bill To Expand Medical Marijuana Access With New Conditions, Products And Dispensary Locations

The Texas House of Representatives has given initial approval to a bill that would significantly expand the state’s medical marijuana program.

After clearing committee last week, the bipartisan legislation from Reps. Ken King (R) and Penny Morales Shaw (D) passed the full House on second reading in a 118-16 vote on Monday. It will need a final third reading vote before potentially moving to the Senate.

The measure would expand the types of products patients could buy and also add multiple qualifying conditions for people to become registered patients.

“Back in 2015, Texas passed the Compassionate Use Act that allowed patients with epilepsy to access low-THC cannabis. Since then, the program has been expanded to include additional medical conditions, but Texans still struggle to get access to the medicine they’re legally allowed to receive,” King said on the floor. “There are not enough dispensing organizations licensed in the state, and current law limits how and where the products can be stored and distributed.”

Specifically, the measure would allow patients to access cannabis patches, lotions, suppositories, approved inhalers, nebulizers and and vaping devices. The currently limited list of qualifying conditions would be extended to include chronic pain, glaucoma, traumatic brain injury (TBI), spinal neuropathy, Crohn’s disease or other inflammatory bowel disease, degenerative disc disease and any terminal illness for patients receiving hospice or palliative care.

Military veterans would be able to become registered cannabis patients for any medical condition, and the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) would also be authorized for further expand the list.

HB 46 would additionally mandate that the Department of Public Safety (DPS) issue 11 dispensary licenses within the 11 designated public health regions across the state. It would further allow dispensaries to open satellite locations if approved.

An amendment that was adopted on the floor would grandfather existing medical cannabis satellite locations, amend the patient application process, ensure that cannabis potency dosages are determined by their physicians, create a timeline for when new licenses must be issued, remove a 1.2 gram limit for possession by patients and instead allow doctors to prescribe an amount they see fit.

If ultimately enacted, the bill would significantly 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 kind of comprehensive expansion of the Texas Compassionate Use Program (TCUP) is a long time coming,” Heather Fazio, director of the Texas Cannabis Policy Center, said in a press release. “Since its inception, TCUP has been unreasonably restrictive for both patients and operators. We applaud Chairman King and the Texas House for taking a real step toward a more inclusive program for sick Texans.”

(Disclosure: Fazio supports Marijuana Moment’s work with a monthly pledge on Patreon.)

The legislation is advancing months after DPS released a report advising that the state’s currently limited medical marijuana system “does not provide for statewide access for patients” and recommending that the number of licensed dispensaries be significantly expanded to meet demand.

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 Gov. Greg Abbott (R) 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.

Abbott has lashed out against the municipal cannabis reform efforts.

“Local communities such as towns, cities and counties, they don’t have the authority to override state law,” the governor said last May “If they want to see a different law passed, they need to work with their legislators. Let’s legislate to work to make sure that the state, as a state, will pass some of the law.”

He said it would lead to “chaos” and create an “unworkable system” for voters in individual cities to be “picking and choosing” the laws they want abide by under state statute.

Abbott has previously said that he doesn’t believe people should be in jail over marijuana possession—although he mistakenly suggested at the time that Texas had already enacted a decriminalization policy to that end.

In 2023, Ground Game released a report that looked at the impacts of the marijuana reform laws. It found that the measures will keep hundreds of people out of jail, even as they have led to blowback from law enforcement in some cities. The initiatives have also driven voter turnout by being on the ballot, the report said.

Another cannabis decriminalization measure that went before voters in San Antonio that year was overwhelmingly defeated, but that proposal also included unrelated provisions to prevent enforcement of abortion restrictions.

— Marijuana Moment is tracking hundreds of cannabis, psychedelics and drug policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters pledging at least $25/month get access to our interactive maps, charts and hearing calendar so they don’t miss any developments. Learn more about our marijuana bill tracker and become a supporter on Patreon to get access. —

Meanwhile, in March the Texas Senate approved a bill that cannabis advocates and stakeholders said would effectively eradicate the state’s hemp industry, prohibiting consumable products derived from the plant that contain any amount of THC.

That, as well as another measure from Rep. Joe Moody (D) to decriminalize cannabis statewide, is one of the latest of nearly two dozen cannabis-related proposals filed so far in Texas for the current legislative session. Various other measures would legalize adult-use marijuana, remove criminal penalties for cannabis possession and adjust the state’s existing medical marijuana laws, among others.

Moody sponsored a similar marijuana decriminalization bill last legislative session, in 2023. That measure, HB 218, passed the House on an 87–59 vote but later died in a Senate committee.

The House had already passed earlier cannabis decriminalization proposals during the two previous legislative sessions, in 2021 and 2019. But the efforts have consistently stalled in the Senate amid opposition from the lieutenant governor.

Separately, the Texas House last week passed a pair of bills designed to ensure speedy access to psychedelic-assisted therapy in the event of federal approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

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Image element courtesy of AnonMoos.