texas

Cannabis Oil Licensing Set to Begin in Texas

Medicine made from cannabis could soon be within reach in North Texas.

The Texas Department of Public Safety will begin accepting applications Thursday for companies that want to produce cannabis oil.

The Compassionate Care Act, now the Compassionate Care Program, was signed by Gov. Greg Abbott and became effective June 1, 2015.

The bill requires the DPS to create a secure registry of physicians who treat epilepsy for the purpose of prescribing low-THC cannabis to patients who have been diagnosed with intractable epilepsy.

The license will authorize the organizations to cultivate, process and dispense low-THC cannabis to prescribed patients.

At least three licenses will be issued statewide.

A McKinney-based company called Acquiflow could be one of them. Acquiflow is planning to convert an old cotton gin in Gunter into a cannabis oil dispensary.

Despite some controversy early on, Gunter Mayor Pro-Tem Larry Peters said he's always welcomed the business.

"I'm glad to see it coming. If it's going to come some place, I'm glad it's coming to Gunter, because the revenue and the sales tax of it is really going to help us out," Peters said.

Peters was there last March for a heated town hall meeting when dozens turned out to oppose and support the business.

Jeff Davis, of Haslet, spoke at the meeting. He led the fight to legalize cannabis oil in 2015.

It could help his daughter, Karley, who sometimes suffers from 100 seizures per day.

"Of all the places in Texas, I wouldn't have picked Gunter to be the first location, but that's OK," Davis said in March.

The inside of cotton gin is in the process of being converted.

The plan is to build a store and cultivate cannabis strictly for the oil.

Patients will have to go through a strict prescription process before they can buy cannabis oil.

By law, the state must license at least three dispensaries by Sept. 1.

MORE: Texas DPS Compassionate Use Program

Contact Us