Traumatic brain injury: the quiet addition in HB 46

The statute doesn’t require imaging or a hospital record from the day it happened. The evaluating physician documents the condition based on the clinical picture: the injury history you describe and its ongoing effects. Records help when you have them, but most telehealth clinics don’t require any before the visit.

Clinically, a concussion is a mild TBI. Whether your history qualifies is the evaluating physician’s call. A single resolved concussion is a different conversation than post-concussion symptoms that never fully cleared or a history of repeated head injuries. Describe what actually happened and what persists; that’s what the visit is for.

Not for access. Either gets you the same prescription. It’s common for physicians to document both when both are present, which makes the registry entry more complete. VA care is unaffected either way: TCUP participation doesn’t touch your VA benefits, though VA physicians themselves can’t prescribe.

Texas has no employment protections for medical cannabis patients: a positive THC test can cost you a job regardless of the registry entry, and DOT-regulated positions get no accommodation at all. If your TBI is tied to an open workers’ comp claim or a safety-sensitive job, weigh that reality before you enroll. We’d rather say it plainly here than have you find out at a drug screen.

On September 1, 2025, when HB 46 took effect. Before that, a brain injury patient could enroll only through a condition already on the list, such as a seizure disorder, spasticity, or PTSD. Now the injury qualifies directly, including injuries that happened years before the law changed.

It can be evaluated. Years of repeated head impacts without a formal diagnosis is a common history, and the physician documents what you describe and what persists. CTE can’t be confirmed in a living person, so nobody expects that diagnosis from you. Be specific about the years you played, the concussions you remember, and what has changed since.

Build the system around a second person. Ask the physician to enter a family member as a caregiver on your CURT record, so they can collect pickup orders and sign for deliveries. Keep three facts from the prescription where both of you can see them: the supply per fill, the refills remaining, and the follow-up date. Texas sets no expiration on the prescription, so what usually interrupts access is a follow-up nobody booked.

The program has no minimum age, so a minor can be evaluated, with a parent or legal guardian booking the visit, joining the call, and handling orders. Whether a teenager’s history amounts to a qualifying brain injury is the physician’s judgment, and records from the pediatrician or sports medicine physician who treated the concussions make that judgment far better informed.