rewrite this title and make it good for SEOTexas poised to expand medical marijuana; hemp-THC ban looms

(This story was updated at 5:35 p.m. ET with more information about the rally against Senate Bill 3.)

Major changes to laws affecting cannabis are afoot in Texas, where lawmakers on Sunday sent a significant expansion of the state’s limited medical marijuana program to the governor.

Meanwhile, advocates for Texas’s roughly $5 billion hemp industry on Monday begged Gov. Greg Abbott to veto another bill, that threatens to wholesale dismantle hemp in the state.

Currently, only very low-THC oil is available to medical cannabis patients who qualify for the Texas Compassionate Use Program, which is considered to have the strictest MMJ rules in the United States.

That could change somewhat if the governor signs into law House Bill 46, which was negotiated by a conference committee of lawmakers from Texas’ House and Senate with input from MMJ advocates.

According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, HB 46 proposes to:

Increase from three to 15 the number of required vertically integrated “dispensing organizations” allowed to produce CBD oil in Texas.
Allow the organizations to store product in “satellite locations,” allowing for ease of distribution in the vast state.
Legalize vaporizers, while maintaining a ban on smokable flower.

The bill also would create more potential dispensary customers by adding three qualifying conditions:

Chronic pain.
Traumatic brain injury.
Any “terminal illness or condition” treated with palliative care or hospice.

But allowing more access to the low-THC, CBD-rich oil allowed under the MMJ program is unlikely to satisfy the 8,000-plus hemp businesses in Texas.

Those merchants believe Senate Bill 3, which effectively outlaws hemp-derived THC products in the state, means an end to their business.

During a Monday news conference on the steps of the state Capitol in Austin, representatives from the Texas Hemp Business Council called for Abbott to veto the bill, according to Austin TV station KTBC.

The advocates – who said in a news release that they “delivered 5,000 letters and a growing petition with more than 118,000 signatures” – cited the loss of jobs and state tax revenue as well as the negative impact on patients, including many veterans.

However, Abbott is also hearing from SB 3 sponsor Dan Patrick, the powerful lieutenant governor who’s made quashing hemp-derived THC a top priority.

Patrick held a news conference of his own on May 28 in which he derided hemp products as dangerous drugs, the Star-Telegram reported.