In compliance with the Texas Compassionate Use Act, by Dec. 31, Knox Medical is expected to begin delivering its CBD oil throughout the Lone Star State.
Considered overly restrictive by many, the passage of Senate Bill 339 opened the door for a limited medical marijuana program in the Lone Star State nearly two years ago.
The Texas Compassionate Use Act was introduced by Sen. Kevin Eltife (R-Tyler) and won approval with a 26 to 5 vote in the Senate and a 96 to 34 vote in the House. Officially signed by the Texas Legislature on May 20, 2015, Gov. Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 339 into law on June 1, 2015.
Regulated and overseen by the Texas Department of Public Safety, legal participation in the program will exclude any form of whole plant consumption — i.e., smoking. Instead, rather than lighting up to medicate, qualified patients will be legally permitted to access low-THC cannabis oil/extracts.
Allowed to grow, process and distribute their CBD-rich oils under the Texas Compassionate Use Act, three dispensaries have already been licensed to operate in the state, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) website:
“The bill required DPS create a secure registry of physicians who treat epilepsy for the purpose of prescribing low-THC cannabis to patients who have been diagnosed with intractable epilepsy. In addition, the bill required DPS to license at least three dispensing organizations by Sept. 1, 2017, should they meet the requirements. The license authorizes the organizations to cultivate, process and dispense low-THC cannabis to prescribed patients.”
The three licensed providers of CBD oil in Texas will be Knox Medical, Surterra, and Compassionate Cultivation.
Knox Medical will be the first CBD delivery service to open in Texas. Projected to open by Dec. 31, the Florida-based company will operate their Texas subsidiary, Cansortium Texas, under the same brand name: Knox Medical. Providing Texans their first home delivery of CBD medicine, Knox does not currently have plans to open a brick-and-mortar dispensary.
As defined by Texas law, cannabis-derived medicine must not exceed 0.5 percent THC or 10 percent CBD by weight. “Prescribed” by either a neurologist or epileptologists, any patient hoping to participate In the Texas Compassion Is Use Act will need to have two doctors agree their patient would benefit from the plant’s medicinal compounds.
While Knox Medical will be the first medical marijuana dispensary to deliver CBD oil in Texas, Surterra and Compassionate Cultivation are projected to follow shortly thereafter.
Side note: While the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) licenses physicians to prescribe a host of pharmaceuticals, it still regards marijuana as a Schedule I narcotic. And according to the Nixon-era Controlled Substance Act, medical marijuana has “no currently accepted medical use.” According to NORML’s website, “When California passed the United States’ first medical marijuana program in 1996, Barry McCaffrey, then-director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, threatened to revoke the license of any physician who participated.”
credit:marijuana.com
