Public opinion on cannabis reform in Texas is changing for the better.

Don’t get carried away into thinking that The Lone Star State is going to become the next big leader in the U.S. cannabis industry quite yet. However, supporters are hopeful that the evolving political landscape may contribute to a positive outcome at next year’s legislative session.

Texas lawmakers have been working towards cannabis reform in Texas for more than a decade, but it wasn’t until 2015 that their efforts started showing signs of paying off. This was the year that the Compassionate Use Act was signed by Gov. Greg Abbott, leading to the legalization of a certain type of cannabis oil that was uniquely developed to treat patients in Texas with intractable epilepsy.

Since this time, a total of three medical cannabis dispensaries have opened their doors in the state for both the production and sale of the cannabis oil.

Cannabis advocates are optimistic about legalization

Just last month, during the state Republican and Democratic conventions, advocates of the green plant felt a surge of optimism for cannabis reform in Texas.

“A change in the law to make it a civil, and not a criminal, offense for legal adults only to possess one ounce or less of marijuana for personal use,” was supported at the San Antonio GOP convention.

Democrats have been pushing for cannabis decriminalization for six years. At the 2018 convention in Fort Worth, they called for complete cannabis legalization in Texas.

Each party is representing a shift in public opinion, all the while encouraging cannabis supporters to ponder over the thought of cannabis becoming an urgent issue before the 2018 general election and 2019 legislative session.

“Marijuana is definitely something we’re going to see being talked about more and more,” said the coalition coordinator for Texans for Responsible Marijuana Policy, Heather Fazio.

“The public is in favor of seeing marijuana laws reformed and we’re already seeing candidates start to talk about it.”

Democrats are not shy to show support for cannabis legalization

Among the state of Texas’ registered voters, over half think that cannabis should be legalized. This is according to a recent poll conducted by the University of Texas and Texas Tribune.

Just 16 percent of the voters believe that cannabis possession ought to remain illegal.

The majority of Texas Democrats who are running for office seem to be supportive of Texas’ cannabis laws. In fact, a large portion of them approves of personal use cannabis legalization.

Voters would probably struggle to seek out Democrats with distinct views of cannabis legalization, since many of them associate cannabis-related predicaments with the public health issue end of the spectrum, as opposed to criminal justice concerns.

“[Democrats] have concluded that we’ve gotten essentially nowhere with our drug policy in terms of trying to punish drug use and addiction out of people,” explained Kelly. “I think the broader failures of the war on drugs and the relative popularity of the recreational use of marijuana is a pretty easy sell for Democrats.”