The Texas Senate State Affairs Committee is currently hearing two cannabis bills. Katharine Neill Harris, the Alfred C. Glassell III Fellow in Drug Policy at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, is available to explain the bills and the future of cannabis regulation.
“SB 1505 would improve the state’s medical marijuana program by allowing licensed dispensaries to have satellite locations and by switching from a weight-based method of measuring THC content to a volumetric one,” Harris said. “These changes would make the medical program more workable for patients. SB 3 would address key problems with the state’s hemp market by preventing the sale and advertising of hemp products to individuals under 21 and strengthening some testing standards. These changes are urgently needed to curtail the proliferation of poorly regulated products.”
Harris recently published a brief at the Baker Institute on “How a Well-Regulated Texas Hemp Industry Can Promote Public Safety.” See more of her research here. While some Texas lawmakers would prefer to ban the hemp industry and its products, prohibition would not succeed in eliminating the availability of these products or in protecting the public, she said.
“Banning the sale of hemp products with any detectable amount of THC would very likely bring forth an illicit market for these products, where they would be unregulated and more harmful,” she said. “SB 3 could result in detrimental legal consequences for individuals as it would make possession of hemp products with any amount of THC a Class A misdemeanor, a penalty more serious than the current penalty for possessing up to 2 ounces of marijuana.”
Harris’ current research focuses on the availability of drug treatment for at-risk populations, the opioid epidemic and the legalization of medical and adult-use cannabis. She supports policy reforms that treat drug use as a public health issue, including alternatives to incarceration for drug offenders, needle-exchange programs, safe-consumption sites, drug testing services, expanded access to medication-assisted treatments and greater integration of substance use and mental health services with each other and with other areas of medical service.
To schedule an interview with Harris, contact Avery Ruxer Franklin, media relations specialist at Rice, at AveryRF@rice.edu.