AUSTIN, Texas — Shelley Peebles has been using medical marijuana for two years. She suffers from chronic pain from degenerative disks in her neck, and PTSD after experiencing domestic violence.
Peebles said medicinal gummies have helped her manage the symptoms.
“Going through all of that was very traumatic and painful. So it just hindered my ability to do a lot, to function, basically. Not being able to sleep is a big, big thing… I go to therapy, but it wasn’t enough. I needed something to just help me sleep.”
When Peebles couldn’t rest, she developed other problems. She said her hair was falling out, and she was going through menopause prematurely. As a single mom of two with a job as a dental hygienist, Peebles was committed to figuring out how to feel better without opioids. At first she was nervous to try medical marijuana, but then she took a trip to Colorado, where marijuana is legal for adults over 21 to use recreationally.
“I tried gummies, and they were the best thing ever,” she said. “I realized that was what I needed. So I quickly got over that fear, because I wanted something that actually worked for me, and this was the only thing that I found that did what I needed it to do… It was a game changer for me, and I’m not really willing to go backwards anymore.”
Peebles didn’t like the way drugs doctors prescribed made her feel, yet she said medical professionals kept pushing them.
“They were talking about taking narcotics for the rest of my life, and I was not OK with that,” she said.
Peebles said she saw a THC doctor in Texas and got a medical marijuana prescription instead.
“I can take my gummies at night, go to sleep and wake up in the morning,” she said. “I don’t have any sort of negative effects from it, and I’m able to function and do my job the next day.”
Patients can get a medical marijuana prescription in Texas if they have one of nine conditions, such as PTSD or cancer. Peebles wishes more Texans could have the same access.
“I know that this can help so many other people with so many other different conditions, and it’s just it doesn’t seem fair that they aren’t getting the safe access that they need,” she said. “It definitely feels like we could be doing a lot more.”
A bill by Rep. Stephanie Klick, R-Fort Worth, aimed to do more by expanding the Compassionate Use Program (CUP) to include patients with chronic pain. It didn’t go far in the legislative session, as Republicans focused on other priorities and campaign promises. But more qualifying conditions could be added to the CUP in future sessions.
“There’s a lot of support, including among Republicans and conservatives in the state, for Compassionate Use,” said Jim Henson, director of the Texas Politics Project. “And I expect that that’s where we’ll continue to see both advocacy and lobbying efforts going forward, and probably the biggest chance of there being progress.”
Jasmine Brennan, who formerly worked for the medical cannabis dispensary Texas Original and is now trying to open her own compliance consulting business, said the cannabis community was optimistic lawmakers would add chronic pain to the CUP to “mitigate the opioid crisis.”
“Everyone thought that there was enough research going behind it, and enough advocacy and communication that there was a lot of positivity that there would be change. And so it was a little bit surprising that there wasn’t this session,” Brennan said.
She added that the failure to expand the CUP has reignited the movement.
“People may have gotten a bit complacent and just assumed the [bill] would pass,” she said. “And so I think this really helps them reevaluate what kind of communications they’re having between regulators, legislators, and the actual patients and license holders. I mean, this is just something that everyone has to look at and say, ‘What can we do better?’ And I think we will next time.”
Other unsuccessful bills sought to expand medical marijuana as well. One would have allowed certain veterans with combat-related injuries to get a medical cannabis prescription, and another would have increased the number of licensed distributors in the state.
While the legislation didn’t get over the finish line this year, lawmakers note that as research has expanded in the area of low-level medical marijuana, bipartisan support has grown. And, they’ll try again next session.