A Texas Senate committee has quietly approved new language for House Bill 46 that significantly rolls back a proposed expansion of the state’s Compassionate Use Program (TCUP), eliminating chronic pain and traumatic brain injury (TBI) from the list of qualifying conditions and cutting the number of new business licenses by two-thirds.
The revised bill, approved during a Senate State Affairs Committee hearing Friday night, now heads to the full Senate for a vote. If passed, it will need to be reconciled with the more expansive House version before going to Governor Greg Abbott.
The move is expected to upset House lawmakers who backed the controversial ban on hemp-derived THC product, which recently passed the full House, with the understanding that medical marijuana access would be broadened—particularly for veterans and other patients with serious health conditions.
Veterans’ advocates had strongly supported the inclusion of chronic pain and TBI in the House version, arguing that medical marijuana could serve as a safer alternative to opioids. Those provisions, along with language guaranteeing veterans broad eligibility and protecting the confidentiality of their prescriptions, have been removed.
State Representative Tom Oliverson (R), who championed the expansion in the House while also pushing for the THC ban, says he plans to continue fighting for broader access.
“I know chronic pain is important. We fought for that in the TCUP [Texas Compassionate Use Program] as we passed that bill out of the House,” he said. “You better believe I’m going to fight for that on the other side.”
Under the new language, the list of eligible conditions has been dramatically narrowed to include only patients in hospice care with terminal illnesses. Originally, the House version included chronic pain, degenerative disc disease, traumatic brain injury and Crohn’s disease.
Attorney Susan Hays, a member of the Department of Public Safety’s medical cannabis advisory council, warned that the Senate’s changes could backfire—especially when paired with the looming ban on hemp-derived THC products set to take effect September 1.
“By clamping down on hemp and not opening up TCUP to pain or expanding the licensee pool, it’s just a bonanza for the black market,” Hays said. “There’s no place for people to go, unless you’re going to be dead.”
