The Texas House of Representatives gave final passage on Thursday to a pair of bills designed to ensure speedy access to psychedelic-assisted therapy in the event of federal approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
One bill—HB 4014, from Rep. John Bucy III (D)—would establish a state-backed study into the use of psilocybin, MDMA and ketamine to treat conditions such as PTSD and depression. House lawmakers passed it on a 115–31 vote on third reading.
“House Bill 4014 directs the Texas Health and Human Service Commission to conduct a prompt, comprehensive study on the use of psychedelic therapies for treatment of certain conditions,” Bucy said before the floor vote.
The bill would take effect September 1 of this year and expire September 1, 2027.
The body later unanimously approved another measure—HB 4813, from Rep. Tom Oliverson (R)—that aims to minimize delay at the state level if and when FDA approves a new drug, such as psilocybin or MDMA. It would dictate that substances reclassified under federal law be similarly controlled under state law “as soon as practicable.”
On the floor before the vote, Oliverson said the bill “will expedite the ability of our Texas veterans to access new, innovative therapies for treating PTSD.”
“I hope you’ll stand with me and other Texas veterans,” he added.
The proposal passed unanimously, 146–0.
As for the study bill, House lawmakers a day earlier amended the proposal on second reading to restore text that says the state would work on the project in consultation with researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Texas at Austin’s Center for Psychedelic Research and Therapy. That language had been removed last month through a committee amendment.
Rep. Tony Tinderholt (R), who introduced the amendment, said the schools “are leading institutions in the field of psychedelic medicine and research and are well equipped to complete this study.”
The amendment came at the request of the Health and Human Services Commission, he noted, “and will reduce the cost or fiscal note of this bill by more than 50 percent.”
Oliverson in previous comments at a committee hearing, meanwhile, noted that psilocybin and MDMA are both in Phase 3 clinical trials “and are likely to be approved by the FDA, you know, any day now.”
“All we’re seeking to do is to amend statute to accelerate that process for these very promising compounds that have been shown to be very effective in these conditions,” he said.
An anesthesiologist, Oliverson said at the time that the goal is to “avoid an unnecessary, lengthy delay” to access to psychedelic therapies in Texas in the event the federal government approves them.
“As a doctor, I’m just telling you my own personal feeling is I want people to have access to drugs that work,” he said, “and I want them to have access to it as soon as possible.”
Also testifying in support of the measure at the earlier hearing was Lynnette Averill, a Baylor College of Medicine professor and director of research at the school’s Menninger Clinic.
Averill said the proposal would build on a measure passed in Texas in 2021 to study psychedelics as a possible treatment for veterans with PTSD, which she said helped make the state “a pioneer in this space.”
Meanwhile last week, a Texas House committee approved a Senate-passed bill that would prohibit cities from putting any citizen initiative on local ballots that would decriminalize marijuana or other controlled substances—as several localities have already done despite lawsuits from the state attorney general.
Under the proposal, state law would be amended to say that local entities “may not place an item on a ballot, including a municipal charter or charter amendment, that would provide that the local entity will not fully enforce” state drug laws.
While several courts have previously upheld local cannabis decriminalization laws, an appellate court comprised of three conservative justices appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has recently pushed back against two of those rulings, siding with the state in its legal challenge to the marijuana policy in Austin and San Marcos.
Meanwhile, despite the ongoing litigation and advancement of the House and Senate bills, Texas activists have their targets set on yet another city, Kyle, where they hope put an initiative before voters to enact local marijuana reform at the ballot this coming November.
Also last month, a House panel approved legislation that would to tighten regulations on intoxicating hemp products—a plan at odds with proposals from Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) and the Senate, who favor a total ban on THC products.
Advocates and stakeholders have said a ban would effectively eradicate the state’s hemp industry by prohibiting consumable products derived from the plant that contain any amount of THC.
That and another measure from Rep. Joe Moody (D) to decriminalize cannabis statewide are among nearly two dozen cannabis-related proposals filed in Texas for the current legislative session. Various other measures would legalize adult-use marijuana, remove criminal penalties for cannabis possession and adjust the state’s existing medical marijuana laws, among others.
Moody sponsored a similar marijuana decriminalization bill last legislative session, in 2023. That measure, HB 218, passed the House on an 87–59 vote but later died in a Senate committee.
The House had already passed earlier cannabis decriminalization proposals during the two previous legislative sessions, in 2021 and 2019. But the efforts have consistently stalled in the Senate amid opposition from the lieutenant governor.
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