While medical marijuana is not fully legal in Texas yet, some patients will soon begin to receive CBD oil.
In 2015, Texas Governor Gregg Abbot signed Senate Bill 339 and legalized the use of CBD oil. Now, it seems some patients will finally be receiving their medication.
Currently, a 10-acre farm in Schulenburg is growing marijuana that will be turned into CBD oil for patients. Knox Medical has 12 employees working the farm.
“The plants look amazing,” said Jose Hidalgo, CEO of Knox Medical. “They look healthy and vibrant. And they are going to be ready to be harvested sometime in early December.”
“It’s really an honor for us to be the first company that was licensed,” Hidalgo told NBC News 4 in San Antonio. “The first company that began growing, the first company that’s going to deliver medicine and begin shaping and helping the lives of thousands of Texans.”
Stephanie Klick, a former nurse and now representative in the Texas legislature, is excited to see the fruits of her labor. Klick wrote the Texas Compassionate Use Act.
“These are treatment-resistant forms of epilepsy that have not responded to traditional pharmaceutical products,” State Rep. Stephanie Klick of Fort Worth told us in a phone interview. “When you have someone that goes from having close to 100 seizures a day — and if they respond to this treatment, have them dropped in half — that’s a significant improvement in their day to day life.”
Hidalgo expects patients to start receiving the CBD oil before the end of the year.
“It will be a really nice end of the year gift for those families that are waiting for this medicine,” said Hidalgo.
