Name: Texas House committee passes bill to expand medical marijuana program
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Texas House committee passes bill to expand medical marijuana program

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4:40 PM on Apr 7, 2021 CDTAUSTIN — The Texas House Committee on Public Health passed a bill Wednesday that would include more patients in the Texas Compassionate Use Program (TCUP) for medical marijuana.House Bill 1535, authored by Fort Worth Republican Rep. Stephanie Klick, would grow the Texas Compassionate Use Program by including patients with any type of cancer, not just terminal, PTSD in veterans and chronic pain that would otherwise be treated with an opioid.It would include debilitating medical conditions defined by the Department of State Health Services (DSHS) while also bumping the THC limit in the state from .5% to 5%. The vote comes after a committee hearing that included testimony from doctors, veterans and Texans who have heavily used prescribed opioids.The majority of those who spoke Wednesday testified in support of Klick’s bill, which would allow thousands of additional Texans to qualify for the program. But, many also asked: When will their condition be enough to qualify for the program?“For us to truly know if this medication helps other conditions, we have to have more data,” Klick said in laying out the bill before public testimony.Morris Denton, CEO of medical cannabis company Texas Original Compassionate Cultivation, said in an interview that he understands Rep. Klick’s position. He supports the bill, though he did note that there is overlap in symptoms between conditions that are approved and those that are not.“A doctor doesn’t treat epilepsy, a doctor treats seizure,” Denton said. “A doctor might treat someone who’s suffering from terminal cancer because they have insomnia and yet a person who also has insomnia that doesn’t have terminal cancer can’t qualify.”The state’s compassionate use program was formed during the 84th session of the Legislature in 2015, but some criticized that it only included Texans suffering from intractable epilepsy. In 2019, the passage of House Bill 3703, also authored by Klick, expanded the program to include Texans with seizure disorders, multiple sclerosis and terminal cancer.Several physicians, including Dr. Mary Caire, who has been in private practice in the Dallas-Fort Worth area for 19 years, said they struggled with denying patients medical cannabis due to their ineligibility under current law.“Cancer, pain and symptoms are not exclusive to those who die of this disease,” Dr. Caire said.Six years after the initial bill and two years after the expansion, Klick has returned with a bill she said would slowly grow the program again and also create a medical cannabis research program under Texas Health and Human Services.Still, many are concerned about the lack of patients in the state registry compared to neighboring states.The number of Texans in the compassionate use program registry was at 3,811 as of December. For reference, the Texas Tribune reported in January that Oklahoma had over 365,000 people enrolled in December, two years after the passage of the state’s medical cannabis program. Louisiana had 4,350 in 2019, while New Mexico had over 82,000.Numerous testifiers, including current patients in Texas’ program, said the THC cap is too restrictive, even if it is lifted from .5% to 5%.Chase Bearden, a current Texas Compassionate Use Program patient who represented the Coalition of Texans with Disabilities, supported the bill, saying that the current .5% THC restriction forces him and people like him to buy and ingest more products to meet the dosage they are prescribed.“One thing we’ve learned over time is that the most affordable health care program a state can have is one that helps its patients get the right medications at the right time,” Bearden said. “That’s what keeps people healthy. That’s basically what we’re talking about. Medical cannabis is the exact same thing.”Bearden added, “It’s what got me off of opioids when that was the only legal, insured way for me to have pain relief of muscular spasms. They would supply me with 180 opioids a month –– this is something I took for a decade.”David Bass, who represented himself, said he is a 25-year veteran who suffers from PTSD and chronic pain. While he would qualify under this bill, he also said PTSD qualifications for medical cannabis shouldn’t be limited to veterans.“My PTSD is no different than a firefighter or a police officer who has PTSD, or a person who was abused or sexually assaulted,” Bass said. “Their symptoms and experiences are the same as mine.”Other testifiers pointed out that thousands of Texans will still be left out if this bill passes, including people with HIV, non-veterans with PTSD and several other differences in abilities or illnesses.For Denton, he ultimately saw it as a good bill, noting there is room for improvement until a “true medical cannabis program” is widely offered to Texans.“This is a step forward in that direction, but it doesn’t get us all the way there,” Denton said. “Because the legislative process is a process that is built on compromise, we have to look for things that we can achieve. There are no moral victories when you’re talking about a person’s health, so we need to get approved what we can and then look to come back in the 2023 session.”Receive the latest political news delivered every Tuesday and Thursday from reporters in Austin, Dallas and Washington.By signing up you agree to our

4:40 PM on Apr 7, 2021 CDTAUSTIN — The Texas House Committee on Public Health passed a bill Wednesday that would include more patients in the Texas Compassionate Use Program (TCUP) for medical marijuana.House Bill 1535, authored by Fort Worth Republican Rep. Stephanie Klick, would grow the Texas Compassionate Use Program by including patients with any type of cancer, not just terminal, PTSD in veterans and chronic pain that would otherwise be treated with an opioid.It would include debilitating medical conditions defined by the Department of State Health Services (DSHS) while also bumping...

Texas House committee passes bill to expand medical marijuana program

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