Epilepsy and seizure disorders: TCUP's founding condition, without the old catch
The Texas Compassionate Use Act of 2015 existed for exactly one group: patients with
intractable epilepsy. A decade later the program covers a dozen conditions, and for
epilepsy itself, the hardest word in the original law has been deleted.
"Intractable" is gone, and that changes who qualifies
Under the original law you had to prove your seizures had resisted at least two
FDA-approved medications before a prescription was possible. That excluded most people
with epilepsy: the majority achieve some control with their first or second medication.
Today the statute simply lists epilepsy and seizure disorders. Controlled,
partially controlled, newly diagnosed: the treatment-failure hurdle no longer exists.
Why this page mentions history at all
Because it explains a quirk you'll notice when researching: much of what's written online
about cannabis and epilepsy in Texas is outdated, still describing the two-medication
requirement or the original 0.5% THC cap. Both are gone. If a clinic's website tells you
that you need documentation of failed treatments, that page predates the current law,
and it's a decent signal to book with a service that keeps up.
Our provider comparison covers who's current.
The practical path
A video visit with a CURT-registered physician runs about fifteen minutes. Seizure history,
current medications, what your neurologist has said. The physician documents the condition
and enters the prescription into the registry, often the same day. Licensed dispensaries
then verify you (or your child) by name and date of birth for delivery or same-day pickup.
No card, no state fee, no application.
One honest note on products: Texas dispensary formulations for seizure patients lean
heavily toward high-CBD, low-THC ratios: tinctures and oral products, precisely dosed.
Discuss timing and interactions with the evaluating physician and keep your neurologist in
the loop; that coordination is routine for the program's physicians, who have been serving
epilepsy patients longer than any other group.
Supply continuity matters more here than anywhere
For most qualifying conditions a gap between orders is an inconvenience. For a seizure
patient stabilized on a regimen it is a clinical event, which makes the access question
genuinely different: you are not optimizing for the cheapest handoff, you are making sure
a handoff never fails. Texas allows a 90-day supply against your prescription, and using
that headroom rather than ordering month to month is the single most useful habit on this
page. Austin families referred through Dell Children's have
the shortest routes; everyone else should plan around delivery.
My epilepsy is controlled with medication. Do I still qualify?
Yes. The original 2015 law required "intractable" epilepsy: seizures that had failed two or more medications. That word is gone. Epilepsy and seizure disorders qualify today without any requirement that other treatments failed first.
Do I need my neurologist to sign off?
No. Any physician registered in the Compassionate Use Registry of Texas can evaluate you and enter the prescription, including a telehealth physician you have never met before. Bringing records from your neurologist makes the documentation easier, but the evaluating physician can document the condition during the visit.
Is a seizure disorder that isn’t epilepsy covered?
Yes. The statute lists epilepsy and seizure disorders as separate qualifying conditions, so non-epileptic seizure disorders qualify on their own terms.
Can a parent get a prescription for a child with seizures?
Texas has no minimum patient age in the program. This is the condition the program was originally built around, and many of its earliest patients were children. The physician evaluates the patient, the prescription is entered in CURT, and a parent or legal guardian handles ordering and pickup.
Is this the same thing as Epidiolex?
No. Epidiolex is an FDA-approved CBD medication that a physician prescribes and a pharmacy fills like any other prescription drug, frequently through insurance. TCUP is a separate state program: a CURT-registered physician enters a low-THC cannabis prescription into the state registry, and a licensed Texas dispensary fills it. A patient can be on either or both, and every physician involved needs to know about all of it.
Can we switch dispensaries without interrupting supply?
Yes. The prescription lives in the state registry, not with a particular store, so any licensed dispensing organization can verify it and fill an order. Opening an account with a second operator before you need it is the simplest protection against a product going out of stock. Formulations are not interchangeable across brands, though, so changing products is a conversation with the physician, not an improvisation at checkout.
How do we avoid a gap between refills?
Know three things about the prescription: the supply per fill, how many refills remain, and the follow-up date the physician set. Texas allows up to four refills of a 90-day supply and sets no expiration date, so gaps almost always come from a refill count running out unnoticed or a follow-up booked too late. Reorder with delivery lead time to spare, and book the follow-up before the last refill rather than after it.
Does a VNS implant or the ketogenic diet affect eligibility?
No. The law doesn’t exclude patients because of other treatments, devices, or diets, and it no longer requires that anything has failed first. Mention the VNS, the diet, and every medication to the evaluating physician. A strict diet plan in particular can affect which product format makes sense.
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Don't let your prescription lapse
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Access ends when your refills run out or your physician's follow-up date arrives, and most
patients find out from a dispensary order that won't go through. Leave your email and we'll
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