On Tuesday, Senator Jose Menendez (D-San Antonio) filed a bill in Austin to expand the use of medical cannabis. The bill, titled Senate Bill 269, will allow for doctors to decide how much or which part of the plant to use in order to treat patients with chronic health conditions such as severe autism, epilepsy, PTSD and a wealth of other disorders that cause debilitating pain and mental and physical disabilities.After this unprecedented bill was filed in Texas on Tuesday morning, Menendez held a press conference along with citizens who were there to speak about why this bill is so important to their lives and what cannabis will do for their children and families who are suffering.Senator Menendez opens with his reasons for this crucial bill: No one has died from an overdose of cannabis in this country,  said Menendez. 44 people are dying every single day from overdoses of painkillers, prescription painkillers. Why if we re such a state that is always been, we thrive on talking about our independence and less regulation and less government and all of these things, why are we deciding to put more government or a politician s decisions between a patient and their doctors. One mother, Debbie Tolany, spoke at length about her 13-year-old son, Miles, who is affected by autism, has intractable epilepsy and a rare endocrine disorder called hypoparathyroid disease. In 2015, Texas passed a bill allowing for the limited use of cannabis for certain patients with epilepsy which a giant leap for the red state, but unfortunately, it wasn t enough to help Miles and others like him. Doctors, having little control over the treatment they prescribe, are forced to use medicines with chemical side-effects that can be severely damaging to the brain and can continue to be a detriment to the well-being of their patients.Debbie had this to say about her son and the side-effects that Miles recently endured from chemical medications prescribed to him: I watched a child with low muscle tone and usually low endurance for physical movement run in frantic circles around my living room for 30 minutes. His face and lips were completely white and he cried out in pain, looking at me for support, which his body would not allow him to receive. No parent should have to watch their son suffer in such a way and no human being should be FORCED by doctors, who are supposed to be taking care of them, to ingest chemicals that only make things worse.The answer for these families is pretty simple. Please watch the full report below: You can also view the press conference, in its entirety, here.Featured image via screenshot