Texas: Talk to your senator about supporting expanded access to medical cannabis!

Texans for Responsible Marijuana Policy

Our Texas Compassionate Use Program (TCUP) in it's current state leaves a vast number of patients without access to medical cannabis that could benefit from it.

Rep. Stephanie Klick's HB 1535 has passed Texas House with a supermajority and awaits consideration by the Senate to be placed in committee.

Contact your senator today to support HB 1535, a bill that would expand access for patients.

House Bill 1535, authored by Chairwoman Stephanie Klick, would remove the terminal qualifier for cancer, allowing access to TCUP for all cancer patients. The bill also adds chronic pain, PTSD, while empowering the Department of State Health Services to add new qualifying conditions through an administrative rule-making process. HB 1535 will also raise the cap on THC to 5%.

These are important improvements to the Texas Compassionate Use Program. Texans for Responsible Marijuana policy offers these recommendations on how the program can further be improved.

  • Allow Doctors to practice medicine by authorizing them to determine the optimal strength and dosage for each individual patient’s medical needs. This means there should be no list of qualifying conditions/symptoms nor any THC cap, both of which restrict a doctor’s ability to properly treat their patients.

  • Move from percentage based dosing to weight based dosing like other prescription medicines. Doctors should be able to recommend how many milligrams of THC, CBD, or other cannabinoids a patient needs rather than using a complicated formula to determine weight from the percentage restriction.

  • Protect doctors from federal interference by allowing them to "recommend" (not "prescribe") low-THC cannabis, which is still a Schedule I controlled substance. This is how all 36 states with effective medical cannabis laws operate.

  • Establish patient protections to eliminate the threat of arrest, prosecution, or penalty in any manner. These protections cover any denial of right or privilege, civil penalty, or disciplinary action, by a court or occupational licensing entity. Parental rights should never be denied, and students cannot be subject to any form of discipline solely because of possession or use of their legal medicine.

  • Authorize independent, third-party testing by certified labs for consumer protection and industry accountability. Currently, no independent lab can test medicine dispensed under the Compassionate Use Program.

Thank you for supporting Texas patients and families!