Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller is calling for state leaders to reconsider their attitudes toward cannabis and expand medical marijuana access.
In an editorial published on Friday, Miller urged members of the Texas legislature and Gov. Greg Abbott “to come together and set aside our political differences to have an honest conversation about cannabis: where we have been, where we are going, and what role government should properly play.”
“In a free society, government should only make something illegal for a powerful reason or set of facts,” Miller wrote. “I believe that cannabis prohibition came from a place of fear, not from medical science or the analysis of social harm.”
The ag. commissioner stopped short of endorsing the legalization of cannabis for recreational use. However, Miller explicitly called for the expansion of medical marijuana access, making him the highest-ranking Republican official in Texas to do so.
“We must start with a new chapter and a new attitude about the use of cannabis – especially when it comes to its potential medicinal benefits,” stated Miller. “As of today, thirty-nine states, including politically conservative states such as Oklahoma, Utah, and Florida, have legalized cannabis for compassionate use: also known as medical marijuana.”
“Beyond that,” Miller continued. “Eighteen states, including conservative western states like Arizona, Montana, and Alaska, have legalized commercial cannabis sales to ALL adults.”
“While I am not sure that Texas is ready to go that far, I have seen firsthand the value of cannabis as medicine to so many Texans,” Miller added.
Currently, in Texas, medical marijuana is only available to people diagnosed with epilepsy, other seizure disorders, multiple sclerosis, spasticity, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, autism, terminal cancer, or any incurable neurodegenerative disease.
Eligible patients are prescribed low-potency cannabis with less than 0.5% of THC, the chemical that makes people feel high.
Miller claimed Texans overwhelmingly support expanding medical marijuana.
“When four out of five Texans support compassionate use, we need to have state law and state policy reflect that desire,” Miller stated.
During a speech at the Texas Democratic Convention on Friday night, Miller’s opponent in November, Austin lawyer, and former Dallas County Democratic Party Chairwoman, Susan Hays, touted her background in cannabis law and policy and called for legal recreational marijuana.
“It is time to legalize cannabis and stop incarcerating people over a plant,” she said.
Despite Miller’s call for medical marijuana expansion and Democrats widely supporting recreational legalization, any bill to expand legal cannabis use will face a stiff challenge in the Texas legislature.
Though some Republicans, including Gov. Greg Abbott, have supported reducing the penalties for marijuana possession, as recently as May, the governor affirmed he was against legalization, as reported in The Dallas Express.
In its official platform, the Republican Party of Texas supports the federal government moving marijuana from a Schedule I drug — drugs with a high potential for abuse and no medical usage — to a Schedule II drug — drugs that have accepted medical uses but still have a high potential to be abused.
The change would federally recognize cannabis use as a medical treatment, but it would remain illegal for recreational use at the federal level.
