To find the resistance, go to Texas.<\/p>\n
Texas is a\u00a0deep-red state floating in a sea of green<\/a>. The Lone Star State is surrounded on all sides by jurisdictions \u2014 including another sovereign nation in Mexico as well as other U.S. states \u2014 with more relaxed and welcoming cannabis laws.<\/p>\n There is deep-red Oklahoma, where voters passed a medical cannabis bill last summer and where patients now widely enjoy access to cannabis. There is Mexico, the drug war\u2019s main victim, passing key court rulings. All are doing it better than Texas<\/a>, where patients must suffer the double indignity of having a \u201cCompassionate Use Act\u201d law on the books that is functionally worthless.<\/p>\n CBD oil is the only medical cannabis legally \u201cavailable\u201d in Texas, but access is granted only in rare situations and under controls so strict that one wonders if making access so difficult nobody bothered is the point.<\/p>\n Texans, including elected representatives, know this status quo is ridiculous. At least some of them are trying to change it.<\/p>\n This year, 59 cannabis-related bills have been introduced before the Texas Legislature. Among these bills is one that passed the Texas House last week that would expand the state\u2019s limited medical cannabis program.<\/p>\n As the Texas Tribune reported<\/a>, House Bill 1365, introduced by state Rep. Eddie Lucio III, would add several other illnesses to the state\u2019s list of qualifying conditions. Common maladies for which cannabis brings relief \u2014 according to studies as well as anecdotes \u2014 that would become qualifying conditions under Lucio\u2019s bill include\u00a0post-traumatic stress disorder<\/a>\u00a0as well as\u00a0Alzheimer\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0autism<\/a>.<\/p>\n Currently, the only illness that allows a Texan to access cannabis is intractable epilepsy like the Dravet\u2019s syndrome for which CBD oil is shown to bring relief.<\/p>\n More importantly, it would increase the number of dispensaries allowed in the state from an insulting three to 12.<\/p>\n Sounds great! But there\u2019s a problem: other Texas elected officials.<\/p>\n Another proposal to decriminalize petty cannabis possession seemed to have momentum\u00a0before it met Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick<\/a>, who guaranteed that he and other Republicans in the state Senate, where he serves as president, would block the bill. And it is the state Senate where Lucio\u2019s bill now sits.<\/p>\n As the Tribune reported, two other bills that would expand Texas\u2019s medical-cannabis program, introduced in the Senate, are both languishing in the \u201cnot called for a committee hearing\u201d limbo. Far from wanting to expand cannabis access, powerful Texas Republicans don\u2019t even want to discuss it.<\/p>\n Why? A spokesman for Patrick told the Tribune that the lieutenant governor is \u201cwary of the various medicinal use proposals that could become a vehicle for expanding access to this drug.\u201d<\/p>\n There\u2019s not much need to parse that statement: Texas has a powerful politician who doesn\u2019t want Texans to have access to cannabis, even if it means alleviating pain and greatly enhancing their quality of life \u2014 and contradicting the Republican Party of Texas\u2019s state goals.<\/p>\n As the Tribune pointed out, Texas Republicans\u2019 official party platform calls for state lawmakers to \u201cimprove\u201d the state\u2019s existing Compassionate Use Act. And a political consultant with ties to Patrick is part of a group called Texas for Expanding Access to Medical Marijuana, whose goal is very obvious. What Patrick and his accomplices in the Texas Senate will do isn\u2019t yet assured, but the outlook isn\u2019t exactly rosy.<\/p>\n The good news is that more enlightened places like Oklahoma isn\u2019t that far away \u2014 only an eight-to-ten hour drive from some parts of Texas!<\/p>\n TELL US,<\/strong>\u00a0is medical marijuana legal in your state?<\/p>\n The post Texas May Finally Be Serious About Medical Cannabis, But There\u2019s a Problem<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
To find the resistance, go to Texas. Texas is a\u00a0deep-red state floating in a sea of green. The Lone Star State is surrounded on all sides by jurisdictions \u2014 including another sovereign nation in Mexico as well as other U.S. states \u2014 with more relaxed and welcoming cannabis laws. ThereContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[50,687,53,415,139,726,9975],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35321"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35321"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35321\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35322,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35321\/revisions\/35322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The 59 Efforts for Cannabis Reform in Texas<\/h4>\n
The Republican Barrier to Progress<\/h4>\n
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\nRead More: Texas May Finally Be Serious About Medical Cannabis, But There\u2019s a Problem<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"