Where does Texas’ medical cannabis program stand?

In the 2021 legislative session, lawmakers expanded the state’s medical cannabis program to include patients with PTSD and all types of cancer as eligible candidates. But since then, advocates say the demand has outgrown the current program’s capabilities. The state’s medical marijuana program, the Compassionate Use Program (TCUP), operates under the Texas Department of Public Safety. The law currently allows for a minimum of three licensed dispensaries to operate in the state, and so far, there only are three. Geoff Young with the Veterans Cannabis Project compared this issue to trying to add lanes on MoPac or I-35 when congested traffic is already a daily problem for Texas drivers.

“The existing licensees are lagging behind,” Young said. “The demand is there, the legislation and the laws are already there, we just need more access to what’s been approved.” During a Thursday DPS Commission meeting last week, Wayne Mueller — chief of DPS’ regulatory services division — said the state is looking to open up applications for more licensees in mid-January. However, he said TCUP likely won’t start making any decisions on any applicants, in case lawmakers make any changes to the program during the 2023 legislative session. “We didn’t want to unintentionally get in front of the legislature and what they plans they may have as far as any changes to the Compassionate Use Program,” Mueller said. “It would not be our intent to act immediately on those applications since that would put us squarely in the middle of the legislative session,” Mueller said. Young said this approach is essentially “kicking the can down the road.” “There are people already waiting weeks, if not months, to get their medication,” he said. “And to say, ‘hey, let’s wait and see what happens’ is a simple dereliction of duty.” An Air Force veteran himself, Young knows the benefits of medical cannabis firsthand for treating his symptoms of PTSD, anxiety and even mild autism.