The new law opens the Texas Compassionate Use Program to include those suffering from chronic pain and other newly eligible conditions. It also expands the variety of cannabis formulations that patients possess and significantly increases the total number of state-licensed dispensaries that can operate in the state.
“This study demonstrates that treatment with THC-rich cannabis in patients with mild to moderate UC is associated with clinical improvement.”
Patients diagnosed with post-traumatic stress, Crohn’s disease, and other debilitating disorders will now be eligible for cannabis therapy, under legislation approved yesterday absent the Governor’s signature. The new law expands the list of qualifying conditions for which a Maine physician may legally recommend cannabis to include “post-traumatic stress disorder,” “inflammatory bowel disease” (such as Crohn’s and/or ulcerative colitis), and “dyskinetic and spastic movement disorders and other diseases causing severe and persistent muscle spasms” (such as Parkinson’s disease and/or Huntington’s disease).
House and Senate lawmakers last week gave final approval to legislation, LD 1062, to allow patients diagnosed with post-traumatic stress, inflammatory bowel disease, and other debilitating disorders to be eligible to engage in the therapeutic use of cannabis.
Inhaling cannabis reduces symptoms of Crohn’s disease compared to placebo in patients non-responsive to traditional therapies, according to clinical trial data published online ahead of print in the journal Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology. The study is the first placebo-controlled clinical trial to assess the consumption of cannabis for the treatment of Crohn’s.