Texas Lawmakers Will Study Cannabis And Psychedelics Issues Under New Orders From Senate And House Leaders

Texas Senate and House leaders are directing lawmakers to study issues related to cannabis products and psychedelic therapy during the legislature’s interim in preparation for a new session scheduled to begin in early 2027.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R), who oversees the Senate, pushed to pass legislation last session to ban hemp THC products. The legislation was approved by lawmakers but was later vetoed by Gov. Greg Abbott (R).

But Patrick isn’t giving up. In his list of 2026 interim legislative charges released on Friday, he’s directing the Senate Health and Human Services Committee.

Under a heading titled, “Addressing Societal Impacts of THC Product Consumption,” the lieutenant governor charged the panel to “study the impact of THC on increased health care costs, mental health emergency detentions, and the risk of being diagnosed with a THC-induced psychotic disorder.”

The committee should “make recommendations to decrease health care and criminal justice costs,” the directive says.

My statement announcing 2026 Interim Charges to the Texas Senate.

To read the interim charges, click here: https://t.co/KtW2BUX7Rx#txlegepic.twitter.com/9fMdjiXvMX

— Office of the Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick (@LtGovTX) March 27, 2026

Separately, House Speaker Dustin Burrows (R) is directing his chamber’s Public Health Committee to spend time before the next session monitoring the “implementation and associated rulemaking” for legislation enacted last year to support clinical trials aimed at developing the psychedelic ibogaine into a legal prescription medicine to treat substance use disorders and other mental health conditions.

The list of interim charges issued by the speaker on Thursday notes that the bill that Abbott signed into law relates to “the establishment of a consortium to conduct United States Food and Drug Administration’s drug development clinical trials with ibogaine to secure the administration’s approval of the medication’s use for treatment of opioid use disorder, co-occurring substance use disorder, and any other neurological or mental health conditions for which ibogaine demonstrates efficacy and to the administration of that treatment.”

Today, I issued interim charges for House committees of the 89th Texas Legislature to guide our work ahead of the next legislative session in 2027. These priorities build on our recent progress, strengthen accountability in government, reduce inefficiencies, and ensure key… pic.twitter.com/woyc1E0xjv

— Dustin Burrows (@Burrows4TX) March 26, 2026

Earlier this month, the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) adopted new hemp product rules that will effectively ban smokable hemp THCA flower.

Specifically, the agency approved language requiring hemp products to be tested for “total THC” content, including THCA, which means most cannabis flower would be considered non-compliant with limitations imposed under state law.

Meanwhile this month, Texas voters approved a marijuana legalization question that appeared on the state’s Democratic primary ballot.

As part of the primary election, each major party was able to place several non-binding propositions on the ballot that allow voters show how they feel on key issues. The Texas Democratic Party used one of its propositions to find out where the electorate stands on legalizing cannabis and whether past convictions should be expunged.

For what it’s worth, a statewide poll released last month found that Texas voters don’t like how state leaders and lawmakers have handled marijuana and THC policy issues. In the survey, a plurality of voters (40 percent) said they disapprove of how their elected officials have approached the issue, according to the survey. Just 29 percent said they approve of how cannabis issues have been handled, while 31 percent said they didn’t have an opinion one way or another.

A separate poll released last year found that a plurality of Texas voters want the state’s marijuana laws to be made “less strict.” And among the legislative items lawmakers considered during recent special sessions, voters say a proposal to address hemp regulations was among the least important.

With respect to ibogaine under the bill the governor signed, Texas will retain a commercial interest in “all intellectual property that may be generated over the course of the drug development clinical trials,” the legislation says, with an aim of making the state a hub for “ibogaine-related biomedical research, development, treatment, manufacturing, and distribution.”

A quarter of revenue taken in by the state from any resulting intellectual property would fund veterans programs.

Along with the legislation’s goal of winning federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval as a clinical treatment, the bill says it also seeks “a breakthrough therapy designation for ibogaine”—a designation FDA gives to emerging treatment options that haven’t yet secured agency approval to treat a particular condition.