Yesterday the state of Texas’ largest medical marijuana company expanded its gummy products to now include the highest dosage legally available, 20 mg.
The move came after Texas lawmakers approved changes to the state’s program last year.
During the 2021 legislative session, state lawmakers approved slight increases into the percentage of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, allowed in medical marijuana products.
According to Morris Denton, the CEO of Manchaca-based dispensary, Texas Original Compassionate Cultivation, the ability to make a stronger product will benefit their customers, which are largely made up of veterans and cancer patients.
Texas lawmakers also expanded the medical marijuana program, Texas Compassionate Use, to include people with cancer or post-traumatic stress disorder in 2021.
“We needed to make a stronger product that would allow them to get to their target dose as prescribed by their doctor, without consuming a whole lot of byproducts,” Denton stated.
Lawmakers only expanded the THC percentage allowed per products from .05% to 1.
Denton called that a “mistake” that leads to patients needing more gummies, oils, etc. in order to get the desired effect of the prescription.
“Instead of you only taking two Advil to address your headache, you have to take twenty,” he said. “… If they want to put a restriction on the allowable amount of THC that a person can take on a daily or weekly basis, they should do that through putting a cap on the total amount of THC that a person can consume. Not by restricting how much how strong our product can be.”
“We’ve got to ease the burden of the regulation so that people aren’t taking their own medical future into their hands,” he said.
