Write your senators is the key to completion and adding conditions.

HB3703 was assigned to the Health and Human Service committee on May 10, 2019. HB3703 is the bill authored by Rep. Klick that expands the TCUP program by changing intractable epilepsy to epilepsy, and adding the conditions spasticity and multiple sclerosis. The bill has not been scheduled yet for its hearing, so that gives anybody wishing to make their voice heard on bill time to speak with their senators.

Click here to send your letter of support for HB1365 today.

I’m going to be blunt (no pun intended) with my opinion on this topic and bills that are in front of us. There is already plenty of disagreement with the fact that this bill has been assigned, while HB1365 which came to the senate before HB3703 has not. HB1365 was the better of two bills and the likelihood that it wasn’t assigned to committee yet has a lot to do with just that. Dan Patrick has said that he was wary of expanding the medical law in Texas. I can easily imagine that he thinks he can get pressure of the legislature’s and his own back if he passes a bill or any sort that does any sort of expansion. Even if it’s the most minimal bill put forward to the senate. And for the most part, with the way voters respond to things, this will be true. As well, it may be an issue of party favoritism.

Click here to call your senator and request they support HB3703 with expansion of conditions today!

When election time comes in 2020, most voters that may have had the slightest concern about medical cannabis and wanting its legality in Texas, will just remember that it was expanded and not by how much. If you’re reading this, you more than likely don’t fall into the group – please prove me right. Those people vote for the same representation. Then when their close friend complains about how in 2019 their PTSD or cancer diagnosis wasn’t included, they’ll respond that they thought program was expanded, not understanding that only two conditions were added to the list of qualifying conditions. They’ll question why it wasn’t added, because they thought it would make sense to have a program very similar to the programs found in other conservative states. The answer is because their representation figured out that they don’t fully pay attention, they’re not educated on the subject, and that they won’t change their vote over it since they couldn’t be bothered enough to send a pre-written letter or spend 3 min making a phone call or even simply because of party loyalty.

Click here to call your senator and request they support HB1365 today!

So what can you do this session with the bill that made it this far?

As it’s been for the past week, it’s a matter of writing you senator. But this time it’s a matter of what you write beyond the pre-written letter. People will need to write to their senator that the conditions listed are not enough. They will need to write to their senator to please heed the advice of Senator Donna Campbell who is a doctor that the Senate floor and Dan Patrick frequently defers to for medical questions of this nature. Senator Campbell is an emergency room physician and opthamologist. The senator also had her own bill which would have made the list of conditions a moot topic as her bill would have made it purely a doctor patient relationship item of discussion. This bill can have amendments added to it, and we already know the list of conditions that the house is willing to go for with a supermajority.

EDIT: Here is the list of conditions to request to be added to HB3703

• cancer
• autism
• post-traumatic stress disorder,
• neurological conditions including agitation of Alzheimer ’s disease, Parkinson ’s disease, Huntington ’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and Tourette syndrome
• Crohn’s disease
• ulcerative colitis,
• muscular dystrophy
• multiple sclerosis
• a medical condition that produces, or the treatment of a medical condition that produces: (i)endocannabinoid deficiency syndrome; (ii)cachexia or wasting syndrome; (iii)neuropathy; (iv)visceral, neuropathic, somatic, or severe intractable pain; (v)severe nausea; (vi)seizures, including those characteristic of epilepsy; (vii)severe and persistent muscle spasms, including those characteristic of multiple sclerosis; or (viii)tic disorders.

Click here to send your letter of support for HB3703 with expansion of conditions today.

There is a caveat to this though. Adding amendments means that the bill has to go back to the house to be agreed and voted on again. If the amendments placed on this bill are in line with HB1365, it should pass no problem. The issue really is time. That takes time and time really isn’t on our side if the calendar committee for the senate takes their time scheduling the bill for floor debate. We have two weeks from the writing of this article to get this accomplished. Can it be done? Of course. But it will only happen if we are making the push for it to happen. If you’re reading this, tell a friend you know that cares, to take the time to do this. Peer pressure is a heck of thing, and it’s time it’s used to stop the slacktivism taking place in Texas politics.