Texas Original is looking to expand its Fort Worth area operations by opening a medical marijuana pharmacy of sort in Panther City.<\/p>\n
Limited access to medical marijuana is legal in Texas through the Texas Compassionate Use Program. The program allows for the prescription of low-tech cannabis for certain medical conditions, such as chronic pain<\/a>, Crohn\u2019s disease, cancer and epilepsy.<\/p>\n Texas Original, one of just a few licensed medical marijuana dispensers in the state,<\/a> wants to open a location at 2812 Horne St., off Camp Bowie Boulevard just south of Interstate 30. The company would keep inventory there and allow patients to pick up their prescribed medical marijuana.<\/p>\n \u2b50 Our editors also recommend:<\/p>\n The business has a pickup location at 760 Airport Freeway in Hurst<\/a>, and pickup available at Compound Athletics at 2529 Weisenberger St. in Fort Worth.<\/p>\n The main difference between its operations and the planned Fort Worth dispensary is the on-site medical marijuana storage. Until recently, Texas law hasn\u2019t allowed medical marijuana to be stored overnight at pickup locations.<\/p>\n Texas Original\u2019s medical marijuana is stored at its manufacturing facility in Bastrop, its CEO Nico Richardson said.<\/p>\n As it works now, the business is \u201cbasically taking the orders from the day before, we\u2019re driving them out there first thing in the morning, and then whatever\u2019s not picked up at the end of the day, we\u2019re driving back,\u201d Richardson said.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can imagine, it\u2019s incredibly inefficient from a logistics standpoint,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n House Bill 46, which expanded the program<\/a> and went into effect on Sept. 1,<\/a> allows for inventory storage when approved by the state.<\/p>\n Texas Original hopes the Fort Worth site on Horne Road will be one of the locations with overnight storage, Richardson said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe takeaway from all of this is, it just increases accessibility for our current and future patients, and it makes it much quicker for them to get the medicine they want day of, rather than having to think about it and order a day in advance or two days in advance,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n A similar Texas Original pick-up site with storage was recently approved in Austin, Richardson said.<\/p>\n Because of the way the law is written, the Hurst location would continue as more of a pickup spot, without storage, for the time being, Richardson said. Texas Original plans to evaluate whether pickup at Compound Athletics is still necessary once the new Fort Worth site is open.<\/p>\n Texas Original serves more than 1,700 patients in the Fort Worth region.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was one of the first places we looked at once the rules came out for satellite locations, and said we absolutely need to have our own space in Fort Worth,\u201d Richardson said. \u201cWe have too many patients there right now, so we\u2019re hoping to expand.\u201d<\/p>\n