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The Texas Tribune
The Texas Tribune
National
By Hayden Betts and Stephen Simpson

Some Texans fear a looming THC ban could return them to opioids, illegal options

Wesley Barnes, 55, stands for a portrait at his home in Onalaska, Texas on Sunday, June 15, 2025. Barnes, a Gulf War veteran who has long struggled with pain, tried legal opiates and illegal THC over the years before finding affordable and effective relief in legal hemp flower beginning in 2018.
Wesley Barnes, 55, at his home in Onalaska, Texas on Sunday, June 15, 2025. Barnes, a Gulf War veteran who has long struggled with pain, tried legal opiates and illegal THC over the years before finding affordable and effective relief in legal hemp flower beginning in 2018. (Credit: Ishika Samant for The Texas Tribune)

Wesley Barnes, 55, a Gulf War veteran, has battled chronic pain and PTSD since his exposure to sarin gas overseas. After leaving the Army in 1994, he spent years dependent on prescribed opiates.

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