Everything Is Bigger$$ In Texas

[Restorium2]

Medical marijuana blazes trail into Texas with first grow license issued

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Written by

TyLisa C. Johnson, Staff Writer

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Medical marijuana will soon take root legally in Texas.

Cansortium Texas, part of Florida-based Cansortium Holdings, received the state's first medical marijuana license on Sept. 1, the Austin American-Statesman reported.

The company will be allowed to grow, process and sell medical marijuana for Texans with a rare form of intractable epilepsy.

 

The license comes through the Compassionate Use Act signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott in 2015.

The law legalized the production and sale of cannabidiol, a low-THC oil that doesn't produce a high. It's the first time Texas lawmakers legalized any form of cannabis.

 

 

The Texas Department of Public Safety is still reviewing applications from Compassionate Cultivation and Surterra Texas, two other companies expected to receive licenses soon, the Statesman reported. 

But the licenses won't come cheap.

Once approved, the companies must pay a nearly $490,000 fee, as well as a nearly $320,000 renewal fee every two years if they want to keep operating in Texas.

Jose Hidalgo, chief executive officer of Cansortium Holdings in Florida, told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that the company expects "to have the medicine by the end of this year, I hope by December."

"Our focus is to give access to patients," Hidalgo said.

[mishigami bear]

How is it a good investment to pay $1/2million in fees for the opportunity to grow low-THC cannabis for patients with a "rare form of intractable epilepsy"?

The potential market is too small and the costs too high.