The Texas Senate has once again passed legislation that would ban THC. But this time, the sponsor of the bill, Senator Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, says that he's addressed the concerns Gov. Greg Abbott raised when he vetoed a THC ban during the regular legislative session.
Senate Bill 5 bans THC but still allows for CBD and CBG, which do not contain the psychoactive properties of THC, to be sold in Texas. SB 5 also raises the purchasing age to 21.
"SB 5 is a continuation of the same conversation we had back in the regular session which was passed out of the Senate and passed out of the House as a … ban on THC," Perry said.
A loophole in state legislation from 2019 that legalized hemp allowed retailers in Texas to sell certain THC products like gummies and vapes. During the regular legislative session earlier this year, state lawmakers attempted to close that loophole and ban THC products. Businesses and veterans' groups protested, arguing an outright ban would hurt Texans who rely on THC for medicinal use. And Abbott said a ban would have hurt hemp farmers.
Abbott vetoed the legislation, calling on lawmakers to instead regulate THC during the current special legislative session.
Perry said the new bill would still allow farmers in the state to grow hemp and would keep retailers that sell CBD and CBG open, two points Abbott also raised when he vetoed the original bill.
Abbott said the original ban would have impacted veterans' with PTSD who use medical marijuana. But on Wednesday, Perry reiterated that lawmakers had already expanded the Texas Compassionate Use Program, or TCUP, which allows access to medical marijuana, during the regular session.
He said he would rather veterans go to doctors instead of retail shops for their medical marijuana.
"You go into one of these retail shops, they're not doing blood tests, they're not doing blood pressure, they're not asking you about all of your issues," Perry said. "We have a TCUP program because it has all of those attributes of providing holistic help."
But Sen. Jose Menendez said TCUP, which began in 2015, is not large enough to deal with existing demand.
"My understanding is that even under the TCUP expansion we just passed, we might not have new facilities up and open until, like, 2028, April of 2028," Menendez said.
"We're working on that," Perry told Menendez. "I do agree that there is a little bit of a bridge there for some of those that are hard and fast habitual users of this."
The Senate will vote on SB 5 one more time before it heads to the Texas House for that chamber's consideration.
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