The Texas Senate has passed a bill to expand the state’s medical marijuana program, with amendments that restore chronic pain as a qualifying condition and allow dispensaries to open satellite locations. The measure would add more dispensaries and expand the list of qualifying conditions to include chronic pain, while also allowing medical marijuana for end-of-life patients in palliative or hospice care.
The bill was amended by the Senate State Affairs Committee, which removed some of the original provisions, including an extension of the list of conditions to include glaucoma, traumatic brain injury, spinal neuropathy, Crohn’s disease, and other inflammatory bowel disease. However, chronic pain was restored as a qualifying condition after a deal between Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and lawmakers.
The bill would also allow patients to access a wider range of cannabis product types, including patches, lotions, suppositories, approved inhalers, nebulizers, and vaping devices. Dispensary owners with more than 10 percent control will be required to submit fingerprints for background checks.
Regulators are mandated to promulgate rules for the expanded program by October 1, 2025. The bill builds on Texas’s current medical marijuana program, which allows patients with one of eight qualifying conditions access certain non-smokable cannabis products containing no more than 0.5 percent THC by dry weight.
The move comes as a highly contentious debate over banning consumable hemp products containing any amount of THC continues in the state legislature.
Source: https://www.marijuanamoment.net/texas-senate-passes-bill-to-expand-medical-marijuana-program-with-new-qualifying-conditions-and-dispensary-licenses