AUSTIN, Texas -- There's a growing effort to expand access to medical marijuana this session. 

  • 17 bills filed to expand medical marijuana access
  • 2 bills filed last session

Seventeen bills have been filed on the issue, compared to two during the last session. Erin Robinson is hoping one of them makes it through. She struggles with anxiety from her time serving in the military. 

"You're waking up with pain, or not wanting to get on with your day," said Robinson.  

But Robinson said her veteran husband struggles even more. Like many veterans, he is prescribed opioids to manage his symptoms. 

"I don't know that one of his panic attacks arises that I'm on the phone with him one minute, and I might not see him when I get home," said Robinson.  

Robinson wants to see the state’s limited Compassionate Use Act expanded this session to serve more than just intractable epilepsy patients.

The push for expansion is also getting support from drug policy experts at the Baker Institute at Houston's Rice University. A new report called Marijuana as Medicine touts cannabis as a PTSD and chronic pain reliever because of receptors all humans have in their bodies. 

"We produce cannabanoids, and what they do is they bind with those receptors to keep our bodies in a kind of homeostasis. When they're working properly, our anxiety stays at a good level. Our fear stays at a good level," said Bill Martin with the Baker Institute.  

While the push to expand the Compassionate Use Act is bipartisan, it still faces resistance from Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick. A spokesman for Patrick recently said the lieutenant governor is “strongly opposed to weakening any laws against marijuana and remains wary of the various medicinal use proposals that could become a vehicle for expanding access to this drug.”

A House bill that would expand the Compassionate Use Act was passed out of committee last week. It would mean people with debilitating conditions like terminal cancer, Chron's disease, PTSD and autism would qualify for using medical cannabis. 

There is a similar bill in the Senate that's yet to be heard.  ​