Mississippi Cannabis News

Texas becomes the 40th medical cannabis state!

Published

1 month ago

June 23, 2025

On June 21, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) signed HB 46 into law, making Texas the 40th medical cannabis state in the United States! Until now, Texas’ low-THC Compassionate Use Program (TCUP) has been so restrictive that MPP and others did not classify it as a medical cannabis state.

Texas’ law has slowly evolved from an exceptionally restrictive low-THC medical cannabis program. Among other improvements, HB 46 will:

Expand qualifying conditions, including by adding chronic pain

Add modes of delivery, including non-smoked inhalation

Expand the number of licensees from three to 15, while allowing satellite locations

Replace the 1% THC limit with a 1 gram of THC per package limit

Texas’ medical cannabis program remains very restrictive, but this is huge progress in an extremely challenging legislature, and it will improve lives. You can find a full summary of HB 46 here.

This upgrade in a deeply conservative state underscores that cannabis policy reforms are possible in all political landscapes. Texas joins “deep red” states such as Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, North and South Dakota, and Utah in adopting comprehensive medical cannabis programs.

The passage of HB 46 reinforces the fact that a vast majority of all Americans want access to legal, laboratory-tested cannabis products. With a population of over 31 million, potentially hundreds of thousands of Texans will have access to laboratory-tested medicine that can improve their quality of life.

Patients, veterans, and advocates were unrelenting in their push to better meet the needs of medical cannabis patients.

Texans were also successful in influencing Gov. Greg Abbott to veto SB3, a bill that would have re-criminalized sales and possession of THC products (except CBG and CBD) outside of the TCUP. A special session has been called to begin on July 21, to decide regulations for hemp-derived THC products.

The power of people organizing to further access to this life-saving medicine cannot be underestimated. The road forward to moving federal policy in line with what a supermajority of states have adopted is closer with the addition of Texas as a medical cannabis state.

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Author: mscannabiz.com

MScannaBIZ for all you Mississippi Cannabis News and Information.

Mississippi Cannabis News

Gap in cannabis education leaves medical providers in the dark

Published

19 hours ago

July 29, 2025

mscannabiz.com

Despite the majority of states legalizing cannabis for medical use, clinical education has not caught up.

Currently, there are 19 cannabis education certificates and/or master’s level programs in colleges, universities, and graduate schools. These 19 programs are spread across 14 states, meaning about 70 percent of U.S. states that have legalized medical marijuana use have no form of college or graduate-level cannabis curriculum.

Even more, the vast majority of medical schools do not incorporate medical cannabis into the curriculum. A survey from 2022 of 83 medical students found that the majority, with no formal marijuana training at their medical schools, held erroneous beliefs about medical cannabis, including what conditions could be treated by the plant.

The lack of formal cannabis education means most physicians and pharmacists are left without a framework to accurately prescribe or recommend marijuana as a therapeutic treatment. Over eight million Americans acknowledge using medical marijuana, meaning this gap in education for healthcare professionals could affect millions of patients.

Increasing education programs

However, some schools are beginning to recognize this disparity between legal medical marijuana and its corresponding education. Schools like the University of Mississippi, the University of Nevada, Reno, and the University of Illinois Springfield have created cannabis education programs to help close the gap.

In 2019, the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy established the nation’s first graduate program dedicated to studying medical cannabis with its two-year Master of Science in Medical Cannabis Science and Therapeutics program. The program blends online classes with some in-person experiences and is held at the Universities at Shady Grove.

“I think that it’s important for health professional educational programs to incorporate cannabis medicine into their curricula so that when we graduate new generations of healthcare providers, they’re better equipped to really engage with a public who clearly wants more information – both to keep them safe and help improve their lives,” program director Leah Sera said to Medscape.

Why is there a lack of cannabis education?

As to why medical schools don’t include cannabis in their curriculum, Sera says that it has to do with politics.

Because marijuana is currently labeled as a Schedule I substance, the federal government has not legalized medical cannabis, leading to this gap in education. Its labeling as a Schedule I drug means there are many preconceived notions about cannabis, making it difficult to encourage professors to teach about it.

Furthermore, it adds another barrier to studies, as it is very difficult to perform randomized, controlled trials with any Schedule I drug, according to Sera.

As cannabis usage becomes more widespread, it is clear that graduate schools need to make a change so patients can receive informed care.

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