With current state laws geared toward making medical marijuana more accessible in Texas, hundreds of thousands of state residents could also be eligible to make use of it for varied well being issues.
The essential steps are figuring out whether or not you’ve gotten an eligible situation, discovering a prescribing doctor and visiting that physician for a prescription. Sufferers can fill prescriptions by ordering marijuana merchandise from certainly one of three licensed dispensing organizations in Texas.
Do I qualify?
In Texas, sufferers could also be prescribed low-THC hashish is they’re recognized with sure situations, together with epilepsy, seizures, terminal most cancers, a number of sclerosis, incurable neurological issues, autism and ALS. In September, this system was expanded to incorporate sufferers with most cancers and post-traumatic stress dysfunction, whereas the quantity of THC allowed in hashish merchandise was doubled to 1 %.
Eligible sufferers should be accepted into the Texas Compassion Use Program with a doctor’s dedication that the medical use of low-THC hashish is suitable.
Sufferers should be everlasting Texas residents. And whereas there is no such thing as a minimal age restrict, sufferers beneath 18 might have a authorized guardian’s permission.
Hashish prescriptions should be renewed each one year.
How one can discover a health care provider
A listing of cannabis-certified physicians registered with the state to problem medical marijuana prescriptions may be discovered on the Compassionate Use Registry of Texas, or CURT.
Some organizations like Texas 420 Doctors and the Texas Original Compassionate Cultivation provide telehealth appointments in order that sufferers don’t must journey to seek the advice of a health care provider.
At their appointments, sufferers or their authorized guardians should deliver identification and supply the doctor with sure private data, together with social safety quantity. Physicians might ask sufferers with preexisting situations resembling most cancers or a number of sclerosis to deliver prescriptions associated to their situations.
For these eligible, the doctor will enter the prescription into CURT. Dispensaries in Texas can entry prescriptions in CURT, so sufferers aren’t issued bodily medical marijuana playing cards like they’re in different states.
Getting on board the Cannabus
Goodblend Texas, a San Marcos-based firm that’s among the many state-licensed allotting organizations, is making an attempt to make registration simpler by bringing medical doctors and marijuana to sufferers. It has been touring throughout the state in the Cannabus — a 36-foot-long renovated RV — to assist Texans study and probably register for the state’s medical marijuana program.
And to make it even less complicated for sufferers, the Cannabus includes a mini dispensary so prospects should purchase marijuana merchandise instantly after they qualify.
“We didn’t wish to make the Cannabus tedious, so the affected person leaves discouraged. We needed to make it a strong expertise,” goodblend affected person advocate Terrance Ball mentioned when the Cannabus stopped in San Antonio in November. “It’s neat, new and progressive, and can permit us to the touch much more folks in Texas.”
Goodblend gave the Specific-Information an opportunity to undergo the eligibility course of to see what Texans should do to qualify for the medical marijuana program.
As soon as on the Cannabus, which is embellished like a health care provider’s workplace, sufferers are given an iPad to finish an consumption kind. A lot of the questions are customary medical inquiries, resembling medical historical past and signs.
Then, they sit with one of many physicians. For sufferers with PTSD, the physician asks questions to find out whether or not they qualify for this system and whether or not medical marijuana might assist. These with recognized pre-existing situations are requested to deliver related medicines to the consumption interview.
The doctor on obligation in the course of the Cannabus’ cease in San Antonio was Dr. Paula Vogel, a dermatologist with greater than 30 years in medication. Most sufferers spent about 20 minutes with Vogel within the makeshift physician’s workplace as she requested questions to establish whether or not they qualify for this system and whether or not medical marijuana might assist.
She asks sufferers about any trauma they might have skilled, whether or not they have any triggers or temper modifications all through the day, whether or not they see a therapist, and whether or not they have hassle sleeping or functioning all through the day.
After Vogel determines whether or not a affected person is eligible for a prescription, she goes over the choices for hashish merchandise like gummies, tinctures, lotions and extra, in addition to what ratio of CBD to THC is handiest. She enters the data into CURT, and sufferers can exit the bus and go to the cellular dispensary exterior to select up their hashish merchandise.
“Many individuals assume you must get excessive, and actually, we don’t need you to,” Vogel mentioned. “We wish you to have sufficient THC to assist together with your signs and nonetheless be a high-functioning particular person.”
