Cornyn and Cruz must step up on medical marijuana policy
Having served with the U.S. Navy for 20 years, I’ve seen how our soldiers and sailors give everything to our country.
After returning home, many veterans struggle with mental and physical pain. Some men and women have found medical cannabis to help them with PTSD, chronic pain and other afflictions resulting from their time in service.
Many veterans in Texas — including myself — are proud to have served our country.
What we’re not proud of is being denied access to a treatment that has proven to show medical efficacy — access to medical cannabis is prohibited at the federal level and severely limited in Texas.
Though our Legislature made some progress in 2015 by passing the Texas Compassionate Use Act, this was only a start.
This law allows patients who suffer from intractable epilepsy to access medical cannabis prescribed to them by a doctor; a compassionate first step, but it is not only those patients with intractable epilepsy who experience relief from medical cannabis.
Research shows that patients suffering from a host of conditions — from cancer, to Parkinson’s, to arthritis — can be helped by medical cannabis.
Furthermore, the medical cannabis currently allowed in Texas is limited to strains that contain 10 percent or more of the chemical compound cannabidiol (CBD), and only 0.5 percent tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).
But studies show that CBD’s medical effects are more profound in combination with THC than alone.
My hope is that our Texas legislators will recognize the need to expand access to medical cannabis, including strains containing THC, to all who could benefit from it — including veterans.
Still, I’m proud to be from Texas, a state that champions states’ rights when the federal government lags behind.
The 2015 Texas Compassionate Use Act allows regulated dispensing organizations to cultivate, process and distribute medical cannabis to qualifying patients, but under federal law, cannabis — medical or otherwise — remains illegal.
That means any medical cannabis patients or cannabis distributors in compliance with our state laws are still at odds with federal policy.
Fortunately, there is an opportunity on the federal level to protect law-abiding Texans from federal prosecution.
The Compassionate Access, Research Expansion, and Respect States (CARERS) Act is currently in the U.S. Senate.
With medical cannabis programs in 23 states and the District of Columbia, and CBD programs in 16 more, the CARERS Act would benefit patients across the country by extending protection from federal prosecution to those who use cannabis in compliance with their state laws.
Our U.S. senators from Texas have an opportunity to affect change.
The CARERS Act is to be considered by the Senate Judiciary Committee, on which Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz are both majority members.
Cruz recently stated that despite his personal views on cannabis, he respects state self-determination on this issue.
Cornyn and Cruz have both been vocal about supporting veterans.
By co-sponsoring this bill, they can actively advocate for Texas veterans as well as represent their constituents’ right to determine state law.
Fellow veterans and patients across the country are calling for reform. States, including Texas, have moved ahead.
It’s time for the federal government to catch up.
Larry Talley of Flower Mound is a retired intelligence specialist for the United States Navy and a member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition.
This story was originally published May 31, 2016 at 5:58 PM with the headline "Cornyn and Cruz must step up on medical marijuana policy."