Texas legalizes medical marijuana

By CW33

AUSTIN – Texas has gone green, kind of. Governor Greg Abbott signed a bill into law Monday that allows folks with epilepsy and other chronic diseases a chance to get their hands on medicinal marijuana.

"I don't believe this bill is going to help a single patient in the state of Texas," said David Sloane with DFW NORML. "The bill requires doctors to prescribe this medication, and doctors can't prescribe anything that doesn't have FDA approval."

Yep, federal law prohibits docs from writing prescriptions for weed. They can only "recommend" the use of the oils the plant produces.

The bill also won't legalize any medical Mary Jane with a high amount of THC.

"Most seizure patients require higher levels of Tetrahydrocannabinol [THC] than this bill allows, and the bill does nothing to help all the other people with medical needs of cannabis."

But while Sloane says this bill falls way short, there is a silver lining to getting ganja legal in the Lone Star State.

"I applaud the Texas legislator and our Governor for finally being honest about the medical values of cannabis," Sloane said. "But I think it's largely political window dressing. All we can do is keep trying."