Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/1004438
A Promising New Option: Texas Medical Cannabis and CBD for Epilepsy Patients What You Need to Know About Treating Texas Patients with Medical Cannabis and Prescribing CBD Medicine BY K AREN KEOUGH, MD TE X A S ENTERED A NE W ER A iN 2018: MEDiCAL CANNABiS iS NOW LEGAL. IN FEBRUARY, THE state saw the f irst sa les of medica l ca nnabis, nea rly three yea rs a f ter Gov. Greg Abbott sig ned the state's medica l ca nnabis law, the Compassionate Use Act. T h e C omp a s s i on a t e Us e P r o g r a m (C U P) a l lows qua lif ied physicia ns to prescr ibe low- THC medica l ca n nabis to patients dia g nosed w it h i ntractable epi lepsy. Despite i ncrea si ng nu m b er s of m e d ic a t ion s a n d t e c h nolo g ic a l adva nces, prospective studies show that today 's conventiona l treatments fa il to control seizures in roug h ly 30 percent of people w it h epi lepsy, according to the Epilepsy Foundation. Here a re the basics on the newly implemented law: It a l lows the state's three licensed medica l cannabis dispensaries to cultivate plants a nd creat e ca n n a bi s oi l ex t ra c t s cont a i n i n g specif ic amounts of psychoactive tetra hydrocan- nabinol (THC) and the nonintoxicating compound ca n nabid iol (CBD), wh ich ha s been show n i n clinica l tria ls to help patients with cer ta in ty pes of epilepsy. By law, such products can only come in nonsmokable forms — typica lly ingestible oils and tinctures — a nd must conta in at least 10 percent CBD a nd less tha n 0.5 percent THC. Texas is the only state to require that CBD treat- ment be prescribed by physicia ns. In response to patient interest, compelling results from clinica l tria ls a nd a lega lized state prog ra m, physicia ns a re sta r ting to get acqua inted with loca lly made, state-reg ulated CBD. As the Chief Medica l Officer for Compassionate Cultivation, one of only three medica l ca nnabis dispensaries licensed by the state of Texas, I have been working to help my colleag ues lea rn more about CBD a nd how it ca n help t heir patients. In a n op-ed published i n The Texas Tribune 's Tr ibTa l k, I ex pla i ned t hat doctors need to be pra g matic about this new treatment option for t heir elig ible patients: To t he Texa s doctors who w i l l w rite recommendations for their patient s pa r ta k i ng i n t he state's li m ited medica l ca n nabis prog ra m, I of fer t h is: CBD is a pha rmaceutica l, a nd while it is not a cure-a ll or a one-size-f its-a ll remedy, it does of fer the possibi lit y of relief for ma ny patients. 1 8