With an increase in the amount of patients that qualify, the amount of providers needed to write the “prescription” will have to go up.

Aside from treating almost no patients in the state of Texas, the Texas Compassionate Use program had a financial issue that swayed those patients that did qualify from using it or accessing it: the cost of the product. With the amount of licensing fees that dispensaries had to pay and other associated costs, the price of the product being sold had to be raised significantly. Patients must pay out-of-pocket for cannabidiol because health insurance won’t cover it. Morris Denton, CEO of Compassionate Cultivation in the Austin area said the average patient at Compassionate Cultivation uses 30 milliliters a month, at a cost of roughly $380. Reports found across social media have said that people spending over a thousand dollars a month for this medication.

Part of solving this issue was to expand the list of patients that qualify to increase demand, as well giving more doctors the freedom to give cannabis to patients as an option. HB3703 will give more doctors the freedom to write a prescription for cannabis and even the term prescription is being redefined for cannabis. Under the new bill, “a physician is qualified to prescribe low-THC cannabis with respect to a patient ’s particular medical condition if the physician: (1)is licensed under this subtitle; (2)is board certified in a medical specialty relevant to the treatment of the patient ’s particular medical condition by a specialty board approved by the American Board of Medical Specialties or the Bureau of Osteopathic Specialists; and (3)dedicates a significant portion of clinical practice to the evaluation and treatment of the patient’s particular medical condition.” and “the physician complies with the registration requirements of Section 169.004 “

The term prescription now means, “ A reference in this chapter, Chapter 487, Health and Safety Code, or other law to a prescription for medical use or a prescription for low-THC cannabis means an entry in the compassionate-use registry established under Section 487.054, Health and Safety Code. “

So no longer is it really a prescription, it is just an entry into the registration program. This eliminates the worries that many doctors had of having their licenses to prescribe and practice medicine revoked/terminated by the DEA for prescribing a Schedule 1 substance. With that fear eliminated, it should be an imperative of medicinal cannabis supporters to inform as many physicians that are covered under the change in the law so that they can be ready as soon as possible to meet the demand of added patients. Once the bill becomes law it will go into effect immediately as a stipulation of the bill was that it follow Texas Constitution and will be effective immediately if the bill passes with a supermajority, which it did.

Specialists covering the following conditions will be eligible to prescribe as necessary: epilepsy; a seizure disorder; multiple sclerosis; spasticity; amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; autism; terminal cancer; or an incurable neurodegenerative disease.