Texas is now accepting purposes because it appears to extend the variety of licensed medical hashish dispensaries, a state agency announced on Monday.
The Texas Division of Public Security mentioned that it’s now taking purposes for the so-called Compassionate Use Program (CUP), which was established by the 2015 legislation that legalized medical marijuana remedy within the state.
The division mentioned that the appliance interval will shut on April 28, and that candidates who’ve beforehand utilized might reapply.
“An announcement detailing the method for utility acceptance and the following approval course of to concern further licenses will probably be made at a later date. The division will concern solely the variety of licenses essential to make sure cheap statewide entry to, and the provision of, low-THC hashish for sufferers registered within the compassionate-use registry,” the Division of Public Security said in the announcement on Monday.
These further licenses are wanted in Texas, the place the medical hashish program has been encumbered by authorized obstacles.
According to the Dallas Morning News, solely “three dispensaries have been licensed in Texas up to now three years.”
The legislation that was handed in 2015, the newspaper said, “was extremely restrictive within the situations it lined and the way a lot THC, the factor that offers marijuana customers a excessive, was allowed.”
“The Legislature expanded the record of situations that might be handled beneath the Compassionate Use Program a number of years later. However even then, some advocates consider this system is just too selective of the situations which can be allowed and are hoping the Legislature will cross growth laws this yr,” the Dallas Morning News reported.
“The three dispensaries now open are all in central Texas, with two in Austin and one in Schulenberg, about 100 miles west of San Antonio. With solely three dispensaries that may present cannabidiol that’s low in THC, some advocates are annoyed that there’s not sufficient provide to satisfy demand,” the Morning Information continued.
In 2021, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a invoice into legislation that made sufferers with post-traumatic stress dysfunction (PTSD) and all sorts of most cancers eligible for the Compassionate Use Program, and likewise raised the cap on THC from .5 % to at least one % by dry weight.
Advocates lamented that the invoice was nonetheless too restrictive; for instance, an earlier model of the laws would have raised the THC cap to 5 %.
Republican state Sen. Charles Schwertner, nonetheless, launched a substitute measure that capped the restrict at one %.
““As a pharmacist and as a doctor, I really feel strongly that our restricted medical program, with applicable guidelines and oversight, is the correct path for sufferers in Texas in search of symptom reduction,” Schwertner mentioned on the time. “I consider the proof is beginning to present that. I consider there must be additional work, however actually, the testimony could be very sturdy by sufferers who’re affected by a few of these situations.”
Leisure hashish stays unlawful within the Lone Star State, though there may be motive to consider that Texans are able to embrace legalization.
A ballot launched final summer season discovered {that a} 55% of registered voters in Texas assist the legalization of hashish for adults, whereas 35% mentioned they have been opposed.
Abbott, nonetheless, will not be but on board with legalization.
A Republican who gained re-election final yr, Abbott “has beforehand expressed curiosity in lowering the felony penalty for marijuana possession to a Class C misdemeanor, however not legalizing the drug,” according to the Houston Chronicle.
Following President Joe Biden’s pardon of federal marijuana offenders final yr, a spokesperson for Abbott mentioned that the governor wouldn’t be following the White Home’s lead.