Texas official urges state legislatures to put aside policy differences and expand cannabis program

Through Jelena Martinovic

Texas remains one of the more restrictive states in Texas, despite its Compassionate Use Program, a 2015 measure that allows residents to consume so-called low-THC products containing 0.3% or 0.5% THC with a doctor’s recommendation Regarding Access to Cannabis.

Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller wants to expand this program. Miller, a Republican, stated in a post on the Texas Department of Agriculture’s website that he had “seen firsthand the value of cannabis as a medicine.”

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“My goal over the next year is to expand access to compassionate use of cannabis products in Texas so that every Texan with a medical need has access to these medicines,” he said.

Miller sponsored the 2019 bill legalizing the production and retail sale of hemp products in Texas. Now he oversees the cultivation and processing of hemp.

“It’s time for all of us, including the governor, members of the Texas Legislature and others, to come together and put our political differences aside to have an honest conversation about cannabis: where we’ve been, where we’re going and what the role of government should be play right,” Miller noted.

Texans want rec marijuana legalized

Meanwhile, the plant’s popularity appears to be increasing among Texans, with the majority strongly supporting the legalization of recreational cannabis, according to a recent poll by the University of Houston and Texas Southern University.

Interestingly, 51% of pollsters who identified themselves as Republicans support legalizing marijuana at the federal level, although most supporters of the reform were Democrats and young people. More specifically, 79% of Democrats and 70% of independents support the cause.

Last month, at the party’s biennial state convention, the Texas Republican Party approved a platform plank against marijuana legalization, among several other newly passed measures.

“Just because you don’t like cannabis or don’t want your kids or your husband or whoever uses cannabis doesn’t mean prohibition is the right answer,” said John Baucum, policy director of Republicans Against Marijuana Prohibition (RAMP ), recently told Marijuana Moment.

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While the Texas political landscape remains mostly conservative, cannabis advocates are pinning their hopes on Beto O’Rourke, a Democratic gubernatorial candidate who has advocated legalizing cannabis and has challenged Republicans who ban it but enjoy it themselves.

“I’ll let you in on a secret,” O’Rourke said at a SXSW panel in Austin in March. “Republicans like getting high just as much as Democrats.”

This article originally appeared on Benzinga and has been republished with permission.