Advocates say many people dealing with trauma may not know they already qualify. A local doctor says it’s partly underutilized for PTSD because of misdiagnosis.
AUSTIN, Texas — New bills have been filed in the Texas Legislature to expand medical cannabis access to cover more illnesses. Meanwhile, advocates say many people dealing with trauma may not know they already qualify.
“Our program is still very small, even with PTSD, and part of that is likely awareness,” said CEO of Texas Original Compassionate Cultivation Nico Richardson.
It’s an industry that’s still finding its way in Texas. Texas Original Compassionate Cultivation is one of the state’s three medical marijuana dispensaries.
Richardson says, the compassionate use program is underutilized, especially for the more prominent diagnosis of PTSD.
He said Florida has 400,000 registered medical cannabis PTSD patients but Texas has 42,000 medical cannabis patients regardless of diagnosis, with about 10,000 still active.
“We find that the FDA-approved medications help one-third of the time with anxiety, but the other two-thirds of the time, they either don’t do much or they can make the symptoms worse,” said owner of Texas Cannabis Clinic Dr. Mathew Brimberry.
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