Texas Original Compassionate Cultivation

Changing minds about cannabis one patient story at a time

Texas’ leading medical marijuana and cannabis dispensary provides the highest quality medical cannabis to Texans.

The Story

Under the Compassionate Use Program (CUP) in Texas, physicians can prescribe low-THC cannabis to patients with qualifying conditions like epilepsy, neurodegenerative diseases and terminal cancer. However, Texas is well behind the curve on medical cannabis legalization in the U.S. That’s why supporting Texas Original Compassionate Cultivation (TXOG)—the leading medical cannabis provider in Texas and the only licensee headquartered in the state—is such essential work.

The Lone Star State’s lag in recognizing the power of medical cannabis can be largely attributed to a lack of education and awareness of cannabis’ proven benefits for a wide range of medical conditions, many of which are not covered under the CUP.

In 2020, TXOG’s mandate was twofold:Increase its patient base in Texas to include more patients who are eligible under the existing list of qualifying conditions.
Leverage its platform and story to advocate for expanding the CUP to include a broader range of medical conditions.

Both goals hinged on the upcoming legislative agenda, which included a proposal to increase THC percentage by weight and to cover a broader range of medical conditions, most notably all forms of cancer as well as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Challenge

Patient-centric storytelling is central to Red Fan’s strategy. There are no better advocates for the CUP than the people whose lives have been transformed by medical cannabis. Red Fan targeted a range of audiences for those stories, including:

The Texas legislature, particularly conservative policymakers skeptical of medical cannabis.
State residents who deserve to know more about the positive impact medical cannabis has had on hundreds of fellow Texans.
State and national media, especially well-respected Texas publications.
Patients with qualifying conditions and their physicians who need to know about this powerful treatment option.

Solution

Utilizing impactful patient testimonials, Red Fan created a campaign to enhance TXOG’s media presence in Texas’ largest cities and strategic secondary markets. To accomplish this, Red Fan built a database of patients willing to share their stories with the media and advocate for TXOG. After dozens of interviews with patients, Red Fan organized these patients into categories based on region and implemented an extensive media relations strategy that secured interviews across the state in English and Spanish. Nearly every story secured in Texas included a patient advocate. Texas Original’s patient success stories included:

Julia Patterson: Texas A&M student and one of the youngest registered lobbyists in Texas Julia Patterson was diagnosed with intractable epilepsy at 5 years old and experienced more than 200 seizures a day. Shortly after receiving a prescription for TXOG’s medical cannabis, her seizures dropped to zero. Today, she’s been almost completely seizure-free for more than three years, graduated high school as valedictorian, obtained her driver’s license and was accepted into A&M’s university honors program.

Casey Lusk: Lubbock resident and longtime medical cannabis advocate Casey Lusk suffers from Charcot-Marie-Tooth disorder, a rare, degenerative nerve disease causing painful neuropathy and muscle weakness. Lusk’s neurologist prescribed several opioids to mitigate symptoms, requiring him to take 180 pills each month, without achieving significant relief and contributing to the state’s rise in opioid dependence. After a physician prescribed TXOG’s medical cannabis as a form of relief, Lusk decreased his opioid intake to roughly 60 pills per month—67%—over the course of 10 months.

Advocacy and education also played critical roles not just in the adoption of new legislation but in securing support from the Texas public. Red Fan and TXOG spearheaded education initiatives about medical cannabis’ proven efficacy in fighting opioid addiction and its potential as an alternative solution for opioid prescriptions. In partnership with leading medical cannabis prescribers throughout the state, TXOG conducted and released data from clinical focus groups of military veterans suffering from PTSD to validate medical cannabis’ efficacy in reducing clinical symptoms.

Along the way, TXOG has steadily increased patient accessibility throughout Texas.

Since 2020, TXOG has added more than a dozen temporary pick-up locations where patients can access prescriptions locally.
They’ve expanded their product portfolio to include gummies, tinctures and lozenges to better meet specific patient needs—including introducing the state’s only 20 mg, THC-only gummy in 2022.

They’re building a state-of-the-art, vertically integrated cannabis production facility in Bastrop that will meet growing demand throughout the state.

Results

In May 2021, the Texas Senate unanimously passed HB 1535. Effective Sept. 1, 2021, the CUP expanded to include more conditions and an increase in the amount of allowable THC by weight. This leap forward came about through tireless advocacy, targeted media relations and interagency collaboration across TXOG, its advocacy and public affairs partners, and Red Fan.

Today, TXOG accounts for 72 percent market share in Texas’ medical cannabis industry. Total patient count among all medical cannabis licensees in Texas eclipsed 22,000 in March 2022.

From April 1, 2021, to March 31, 2022, Red Fan secured nearly 2,000 media mentions of TXOG nationally, with an 80 percent share of voice in Texas alone.

In April 2022, TXOG was the cover story of the Cannabis Business Times, the leading magazine covering the cannabis industry in the United States.

Red Fan was proud to have our work recognized in the 2022 North American SABRE Awards and win the Healthcare category for our work with Texas Original Compassionate Cultivation.