AUSTIN, Texas — For years, Joshua Raines has been using marijuana illegally to treat the epilepsy and PTSD he developed during his five years in the Army. His diagnosis was set off after suffering a traumatic brain injury during a bomb explosion while in Afghanistan. Raines, 31, has been eligible for a legal prescription of […]
Texas
Life-Changing: What Expansion of Texas Medical Cannabis Program Means for Patients
The 86th Texas Legislature will be remembered as a landmark in Lone Star state history for the rights of Texas patients and their families. The new medical cannabis law, passed with bipartisan support and signed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, significantly expands access to hundreds of thousands more Texas patients. When it was originally established […]
Will Texans give up gun rights to get medical marijuana? Federal government says they have to
AUSTIN — For years, Joshua Raines has been using marijuana illegally to treat the epilepsy and PTSD he developed during his five years in the Army. His diagnosis was set off after suffering a traumatic brain injury during a bomb explosion while in Afghanistan. Raines, 31, has been eligible for a legal prescription of medical marijuana […]
More Texans may soon be able to use medical cannabis — CBD oil — legally
A plan to let more Texans use medical cannabis in the form of CBD oil advanced in the Senate Wednesday, with less than a week left in the legislative session. Fort Worth Republican state Rep. Stephanie Klick had proposed letting Texans with multiple sclerosis, spasticity and any form of epilepsy use the oil, which comes from the hemp […]
Texas House Votes to Significantly Expand Medical Marijuana Law
Christy and Mark Zartler consider cannabis to be their daughter’s “rescue medicine.” Kara, 19, has severe autism and cerebral palsy, and has hurt herself — smacking and punching her face and head repeatedly — for more than a decade. Nothing, including pharmaceutical drugs, worked to calm her, until the Zartlers began illegally using medical marijuana, […]
Texas Rejects Bill To Reduce Marijuana Penalties Despite Just 14% Of The State Saying It Should Be Illegal
Texas lawmakers have dismissed a bill to reduce the penalties for marijuana-related offenses, citing strong opposition to decriminalization despite the fact that a plurality of voters in the state believe the drug should be fully legalized. Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick declared the legislation “dead” in the Texas Senate just after the House gave the bill […]
Texas House passes bill that reduces penalties for Texans caught with small amounts of marijuana
After a brief discussion, the Texas House gave preliminary approval Monday to a bill that would reduce the penalties for low-level possession of marijuana — a move lauded as a win by those eager for the state to take its first major step toward loosening its staunch marijuana laws. But hopes of turning the bill […]
Texas marijuana advocates get fired up to decriminalize pot in 2019
On a typical night, Flamingo Cantina is packed with patrons seeking out its “good vibes music.” But on the unusually quiet Wednesday after New Year’s Eve, as the buzzed frat boys and trashed tourists who flock to Austin’s Sixth Street take a sabbatical from the sauce, this Rastafarian watering hole hosted a wholly different crowd. “We’re […]
Marijuana Decriminalization Bills Filed In Texas With Bipartisan Support
Decriminalization of marijuana in Texas is back on the table as nearly a half dozen bills related to the drug’s use were filed on Monday for the 86th legislative session. Recreational and most medical uses of marijuana are still prohibited in the state, the exception being low-THC cannabis for qualifying intractable epilepsy patients under the […]
New Ads Aim To Change Rural Texans Perception About Medical Marijuana
Ahead of the 2018 midterm elections, Texans will be seeing — and hearing — a lot of campaign ads. But, on top of the typical election year barrage of political commercials, some rural Texans will also be seeing a very different kind of ad. When you first see an ad featuring a man in a cowboy hat, […]
Texas GOP Signals New Era On Marijuana At State Convention
Texas, seemingly, is headed for marijuana reform sooner than expected. The state’s Republican Party passed a platform Saturday afternoon supporting major changes in the way the state treats medical marijuana and those found in possession of less than an ounce of pot, signaling that years of harsh prohibition could be over as soon as 2019. […]
Texas’ dopey rules on medical marijuana need a rewrite
Micah Jensen’s mom noticed something was wrong after his third birthday. The little boy forgot how to go potty. He hadn’t learned many words, but his vocabulary became even more limited. He would line up his toy cars in a row and just stare at them. Then the epileptic seizures began. And he became violent, […]
Texas Backs Off Changes That Could’ve Led to CBD Confiscation, for Now
The Texas Department of State Health Services has tapped the brakes on a proposed protocol that could’ve seen all food and supplements containing cannabidiol oil removed from Texas store shelves, thanks to a deluge of comments sent to the agency last month in support of the products. “The protocol that was proposed had only addressed hemp […]
Dad who gave his autistic daughter illegal marijuana is qualified to be her guardian, judge rules
A father who administers cannabis vapor to his severely autistic daughter is qualified to be her guardian, a Texas judge has ruled. Judge Brenda Hull Thompson ruled that the father, Mark Zartler, and his wife, Christy, are both qualified to be guardians for their 18-year-old daughter, Zara, the Dallas Morning News reports. Such hearings are […]
6-Year Old Girl Delivered First Dose Of Legal Medical Marijuana In Texas
A 6-year-old Texas girl made history on Thursday. The Central Texas girl, who suffers from intractable epilepsy, became the first person in Texas to receive a legal delivery of medical marijuana grown and produced here in the Lone Star State. Doctors prescribed for her the low-THC cannabis oil, in the hopes it could help. “For […]
With Medical Marijuana On The Way In Texas, Who Will Be Able To Buy It?
In just a few weeks, medical marijuana will legally be sold in Texas. The plants are nearly finished growing in South-Central Texas, which means workers will soon harvest and cultivate them, drying them out and preparing to extract low-level cannibidiol. Once that medicine is in a liquid form, and packaged in drops, the first sales of medical […]
Texas Hands Out First Medical Marijuana License
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas has issued its first medical marijuana license, and two more companies are expected to be awarded licenses soon. Cansortium Texas, which is a part of Florida-based Cansortium Holdings, received a license Friday, the Austin American-Statesman reported . The company will be allowed to grow, process and sell medical marijuana for […]
Marijuana Decriminalization Bill in Texas Runs out of Time
Time ran out in the Texas House late Thursday on a proposed law that would have reduced the penalty for possession of small amounts of marijuana in the state to below that of most traffic tickets. A midnight deadline passed without the full House taking up House Bill 81 for initial consideration, meaning it and […]
