Medical Cannabis Legalization Bill Filed in Texas Legislature
Legislation to
legalize medical cannabis was filed today in Texas’ House of Representatives, with a companion bill being filed next week in the state’s Senate.
House Bill 3785, introduced by Representative Marisa Márquez, would allow patients who receive a recommendation from a physician to legally possess and use up to 2.5 ounces of cannabis for medical purposes. Patients would also be able to cultivate up to six cannabis plants at their private residence, and the Department of State Health Services would be directed to establish a regulated system of licensed cannabis cultivators, processors, and dispensaries.
Senator José Menéndez plans to file an identical companion bill in the Senate next Friday.
“The law currently does not reflect marijuana’s legitimate medical use and denies access to patients, such as veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder, citizens suffering with cancer, and severe aliments of the aging,” says Representative Marquez. “By continuing to deny access to patients, we limit the rights of families to seek the best possible treatment for conditions that do not respond to other drugs or therapies. We should create paths, and not obstacles, in allowing doctors to recommend medicine that has been shown to work.”
More than three out of four Texans (77%) support legalizing medical cannabis, according to a University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll released in February 2014.
The text of House Bill 3785 can be found by clicking here.
– TheJointBlog
Tx Weedster
Get out and vote
Susan
This bill needs to pass! I suffer with one illness and disease after another and the medications I take do not help like they should. I’m tired of being in chronic pain, medication resistant depression. PTSD, anxiety, among a list of other health issues. I’ve suffered since 1993 and continue to struggle day-to-day. Two of my doctor’s have told my husband and I that Medical Marijuana would help me much more with my debilitating health problems. One doctor has advised me to move to a state where it is legalized. We would move if it were not for my husband’s job and the necessity for his income to pay for all of my medical bills. If Texas doesn’t do anything for those who desperately need it, like myself, we will be forced to move. We are for total and complete legalization of Marijuana or at the very least, legalization of Medical Marijuana. Texans need help and we are ready to vote for these bills!