Believe It or Not, There's a New Place in D/FW to Pick Up Medical Marijuana

To those who don’t follow the cannabis beat too closely, it might be a surprise to learn that Texas has a medical marijuana program. It's known as one of the most restrictive in the nation — a stark contrast to those in states like Oklahoma, where there seems to be a marijuana dispensary everywhere you turn.

But the Texas program has seen expansions in recent years, perhaps quietly so. Now there’s one more place in the Dallas-Fort Worth area where patients can get their prescriptions filled. Texas Original, one of three medical marijuana businesses licensed in the state, announced last week the opening of a permanent pickup location in Hurst, the company’s first in the area.

Located at 760 Airport Freeway, the location will operate every Wednesday and Thursday between 10 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. and will offer all of Texas Original’s products to qualifying patients who are registered with the Texas Compassionate Use Program. Eventually, Texas Original will expand operating hours at the new location to six days a week.

The company says the opening dramatically increases access to life-changing medicine for North Texas patients. The Hurst facility joins several others in the North Texas area. Texas Original recently opened a pickup location in Arlington and has others in Addison, Fort Worth, Frisco and North Dallas, but these are usually open one or two days each week, with limited hours. The Hurst location is the third permanent Texas Original pickup location in the state that will eventually be open throughout the week and most of the day, alongside the business’ Austin dispensary and a permanent spot in Houston. 

“We are excited to continue growing our footprint across the state, and in the DFW area in particular.” – Nico Richardson, Texas Original

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The company is the largest medical cannabis distribution network in Texas.

“Patients deserve safe and reasonable access to medical cannabis, and we’re excited to bring that to our neighbors in the Dallas area,” Nico Richardson, CEO of Texas Original, said in a press release. “Delivering life-changing medicine to every Texan who needs it is our North Star. Since opening the state’s first medical cannabis dispensary in 2018, we’ve committed to making high-quality, Texas-grown medicine more accessible across the state.”

The products you’ll find at Texas Original locations differ from stuff you’ll find in hemp shops across the state. The 2018 Farm Bill and Texas House Bill 1325 legalized cannabis with 0.3% delta-9 THC or less. Delta-9 THC is the psychoactive component in marijuana that gets users high.

The laws established that cannabis with 0.3% delta-9 THC or less is considered legal hemp, and cannabis with more than 0.3% delta-9 THC is considered illegal marijuana. Since then, store shelves have been flooded with products containing hemp-derived delta-9 THC and other forms of THC such as delta-8 and delta-10. These products can be found in varying potencies and several different forms, including edibles, tinctures and loose flower.

Compassionate-use products are regulated, medical-grade and specifically made based on clinical trials to treat common symptoms associated with qualifying conditions under the medical marijuana program.

So, how do you qualify for the program?

You must be a permanent Texas resident and have been diagnosed with a qualifying condition. On top of that, you’ll have to get the OK from a physician if you want a prescription to be filled by medical marijuana companies like Texas Original.

What are the qualifying conditions?

When the program was started in 2015, it was limited to patients with intractable epilepsy, and medication was capped at 0.5% delta-9 THC. In 2019, it was expanded to include patients with terminal cancer, autism and multiple sclerosis, among other illnesses. During the 2021 legislative session, it was expanded again to include patients with all stages of cancer and PTSD, and the THC cap on medication was increased to 1%.

What kind of products are available in the TCUP?

A prescription can come only in the form of edibles or tinctures, as smokable flower is still not allowed in the state’s medical marijuana program. Places to fill a prescription are still limited, but Richardson told the Observer that the company plans to open another pickup location in DFW this year.

“We recognize that there is a large number of Texans in the DFW metro area that would qualify for the Compassionate Use Program but do not currently have reliable access to medical cannabis due to the lack of pickup locations,” Richardson said. “We are excited to continue growing our footprint across the state, and in the DFW area in particular.”