Texans were cut off from basic needs like water and electricity when last week’s winter storm left them hunkering down in the dark with extra blankets, exposing a need for additional infrastructure in their state and surrounding region.
At Texas Original Compassionate Cultivation (TOCC), a vertically integrated medical cannabis company on the outskirts of Austin, the deep freeze left delivery drivers immobilized by hazardous road conditions, Contributing Editor Cassie Neiden Tomaselli wrote this week. The biggest challenge TOCC faced was its ability to get medicine from its facility to throughout Texas, as was a result of “burdensome” regulations imposed by Texas’ Compassionate-Use Program, according to company CEO Morris Denton.
The law that governs the medical use of low-THC cannabis by patients diagnosed with seizure disorders, multiple sclerosis, spasticity, terminal cancer and other ailments, the Compassionate-Use Program restricts companies like TOCC from storing its inventory anywhere except at its headquartered facility near Austin. As a result, TOCC had several patients whom delivery drivers could not serve because roads were impassable for a period of 48 to 72 hours.
As the cannabis industry continues to evolve, so too do the regulations associated with the market. In California, cannabis and hemp-derived products became subject to new Proposition 65 warning requirements last month, with “cannabis smoke” getting added to an updated list of chemicals known to the state as a reproductive toxin causing developmental harm.
Regulations are needed elsewhere, notably in the form of the Secure And Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act, which would provide businesses more traditional financing options that would open additional capital streams and allow the cannabis industry to grow.
Another regulation the cannabis sector has been waiting for is the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Cannabidiol (CBD) Enforcement Policy, which industry experts anticipate would have some guidance in carving out a clear pathway for producers of CBD as a dietary supplement to grow in the marketplace.
As the cannabis industry matures, it becomes more clear what regulations are needed and what regulations are not needed. Government entities must be willing to adapt to those demands.
-Tony Lange, Associate Editor