(Photo credit: Maggie Fitzgibbons)
Compassionate Cultivation hosted state and local officials, along with patients and their families at its cultivation facility in Manchaca, Texas, on Tuesday Nov. 28 for a
dedication ceremony honoring state Rep. Stephanie Klick (R-Fort Worth) and her pioneering work in bringing medical cannabis to Texas.
Morris Denton, Compassionate Cultivation’s CEO, acknowledged Rep. Klick for her work and
dedicated one of the facility’s vegetation rooms as the Honorable Stephanie Klick Room for her instrumental role in the passage of the Texas Compassionate Use Act, which allows qualifying patients access to cannabidiol — or CBD — with prescriber approval.
Rep. Klick authored HB 892 and sponsored its sister bill SB 339, which was signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott in 2015.
Compassionate Cultivation has also named its first strain of CBD-rich cannabis the Klick Strain in honor of Rep. Klick. The cultivator and dispensary is also naming its second strain after state Sen. Kevin Eltife, author of SB 339, which Klick utilized as the basis for creating the Compassionate Use Act.
“Rep. Stephanie Klick helped start this important movement along with the great people at the Epilepsy Foundation of Texas,” Denton said. “It took someone of a special background, a longtime nurse, to really understand from a medical perspective the hope, promise and truth that this medicine represents.
“And just as Rep. Klick gave life to the Compassionate Use Act, the Honorable Stephanie Klick Room will give life to every dose of medicine that will ever come out of our facility.”
Compassionate Cultivation planted its first round of cannabis seeds on Oct. 31, 2017, immediately following the final approval of its medical cannabis license by Texas Department of Public Safety. It is one of only two businesses licensed to grow cannabis that is high in non-psychoactive CBD and low in psychoactive tetrahydrocannabinol — or THC — in Texas.
Those in attendance at Tuesday’s dedication ceremony were given a special guided tour of
one of the first legal cannabis crops in state history at Compassionate Cultivation’s Austin-area facility. The tour was followed by a barbecue cookout with drinks and live music.
The celebratory event also marks an exciting and long-awaited time for patients with intractable epilepsy across Texas, as the state’s medical cannabis program gears up to become operational in early 2018. Many patients will soon be able to end their cycle of suffering with legal access to low-THC cannabis oil
as dispensaries come online early next year.
“I’m thankful that these Texans suffering from intractable epilepsy will soon have an alternative treatment option,” Klick said. “And while many of us worked long hours to push the Compassionate Use Act through, I am grateful for this thoughtful acknowledgement.”
Only qualifying patients with intractable epilepsy are eligible to purchase CBD products with a physician’s prescription under the Texas Compassionate Use Act.
Pending final approval from the Texas Department of Public Safety, Compassionate Cultivation plans to start selling its cannabis tinctures and oils as early as January 2018 — after the first batch of plants are harvested and tested for purity and safety.
