AUSTIN, Texas – All legislative session, advocates have been pushing for a Texas House bill to ease marijuana restrictions.

  • Texas House to vote on cannabis expansion
  • Bill looking to expand qualifying conditions
  • Would allow access to low THC

The bill, which would expand the state's medical cannabis program, is scheduled for a vote on the House floor on Monday.

Currently, Texas’s Compassionate Use Program only helps patients with intractable epilepsy. House Bill 1365 would expand that list of qualifying conditions, so more people with debilitating conditions would be allowed to access low-THC cannabis.

The bill adds a number of conditions including:

  • Cancer
  • Autism
  • Post-traumatic stress disorder 
  • Alzheimer’s disease
  • Parkinson’s disease 
  • Tourette syndrome 
  • Crohn ’s disease 
  • Multiple sclerosis.

Advocates for marijuana reform said an expansion of the medical cannabis program could help fight the nation's opioid crisis.

“Nobody has ever died of an overdose of cannabis, of marijuana. In fact, studies have shown almost a 25 percent reduction in opioid overdose deaths in states that have legalized medical cannabis. There are less (emergency room) visits,” said pain medicine specialist, Dr. Robert Marks. “In a time when opioids remain the number one cause of accidental death in our country, exceeding deaths for motor vehicle accidents, we the doctors need laws to protect and treat our patients.”

The push to expand the Compassionate Use Act has bipartisan support, as HB 1365 passed out of the House Public Health Committee unanimously. However, it still faces resistance from Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.

RELATED l Texas Veterans Seek Access to Medical Marijuana