Texas just approved a medical marijuana bill — but it won't actually help any patients

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published 19 May 2015

Like many states, Texas is moving toward decriminalizing marijuana for medical use, specifically for epilepsy patients. So on Monday, the Texas State House overwhelmingly approved a bill that would legalize cannabis oil for use by the chronically ill.

There's just one problem: As Reason reports, the bill as it's currently written "requires doctors to 'prescribe' cannabis, which is forbidden by federal law, since the plant has not been approved as a medicine by the Food and Drug Administration." As it now stands, this law couldn't get the oil into any patients' hands.

To make the bill effective, Texas legislators would need to change its language to require that doctors "recommend" rather than "prescribe" the treatment. That's what other states have done, a move which was endorsed by the 9th Circuit Court.