Report: State lacks access for patients to get medical marijuana
AUSTIN (KXAN) -- A new report from the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) indicates the state should do more to make medical marijuana accessible. The DPS report analyzed the state's Compassionate Use Program.
The goal of the report was to see if it could provide reasonable access of to patients statewide. It found because Texas is so large, it causes unique problems for both patients and dispensaries.
"We have to take all of our products from our pick-up location. So what you would think as a dispensary, or a retail location, and at the end of the night, anything that's not sold or picked up by patients, and drive it back to our central location in Austin," Jervonne Singletary, Senior Director of Government Relations for Goodblend, said.
That is one of the biggest problems Texas dispensary owners said they face when it comes to the Compassionate Use Program, also referred to as CUP. In a new 70-page report by DPS, a third-party looked at how the state is handling the program and what can be done better.
A key point is better access.
"You need to fix the regulations in the system as it exists today and then expand to new licenses to diversify to make sure that you're not over-reliant on one, or two, or three licenses," said Texas Original CEO Nico Richardson.
Texas Original was one of the three operators the state authorized to do business when the program began in 2015.
"If you end up licensing 10 more dispensary operators and putting them in tertiary markets, in West Texas, South Texas, and North Texas, and East Texas, it is impossible to be profitable. They will go out of business. That doesn't solve your access problem," Richardson explained.
The other main issue the report exposed is patients are leaving the regulated program for the hemp market, for products like Delta 8. That remains mostly unregulated by the state.
"I know the Texas legislature had no intention of opening up the floodgates like they have right now," Singletary said.
Dispensary operators said it's a dangerous situation that's unfolding because of how easy hemp is to get.
"We are regulated as if we are transferring enriched plutonium across the state. It makes no sense anymore," Richardson said.
Operators said two major issues that need to be figured out in order for the program to serve the patients who need it.
The report said there are more than 66,000 patients who have enrolled since the program began, but said that number does not mean they are still "active."
You can read the full report here.