For years stifled by legislation, Texas’ modest medical hashish business is poised to increase in 2026 because of expanded affected person eligibility and product entry.
However as main marijuana multistate operators transfer to enter the Lone Star State for the primary time, Texas’ estimated $5 billion hemp-derived THC market remains to be posing questions that each lawmakers and hashish companies should reply.
For nearly a decade, the one product obtainable to the sufferers with epilepsy enrolled within the Texas Compassionate Use Program (TCUP) was very low THC oil obtained from solely three licensed companies, or meting out organizations.
That led to criticism from hashish advocates that TCUP, established in 2015, was so restrictive that it was virtually nugatory – for each sufferers in addition to companies.
Certainly one of Texas’ three meting out organizations was “successfully inoperable” for a number of years, in line with the Texas Division of Public Security.
The longstanding restricted authorized hashish entry performed in a task within the explosive rise of hemp-derived THC within the state, as annoyed sufferers – and would-be sufferers – ditched TCUP for hemp THC obtainable on-line and in quite a few brick-and-mortar places.
Main growth for Texas medical marijuana
In response, final June, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed into legislation Home Invoice 46, a broad growth of medical hashish.
Underneath the brand new guidelines, finalized this fall:
- Hashish merchandise can now embody as much as 10 milligrams of THC per dose, with not more than 1000 milligrams (one gram) in a package deal.
- The variety of obtainable vertically built-in companies licenses for meting out organizations elevated from 3 to fifteen, with permits to be issued by April 1.
- Qualifying circumstances for sufferers now embody persistent ache and terminal sicknesses, with the power so as to add extra circumstances with out passing a brand new legislation.
Along with oil, sufferers can entry topical lotions, patches, suppositories, and prescribed inhalers and vaping gadgets.
Smokable flower remains to be unavailable, sustaining the state’s cautious, anti-recreational use strategy.
Texas makes hashish THC obtainable, however hemp THC stays
Abbott signed the TCUP growth into legislation earlier than vetoing a separate effort, led by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, to ban hemp-derived THC merchandise outright.
The governor then issued an govt order in September that directed state businesses to control hemp THC merchandise much like alcohol, together with age restrictions and obligatory ID checks.
That prompted a victory lap for the Texas hemp business which will develop into short-term.
A pending federal ban, signed into legislation by President Donald Trump late final yr and set to take impact in November 2026, has left hemp enterprise in a state of uncertainty.
That is vital as the large Texas hemp business provides way more entry to THC than the medical program.
That stated, the hemp business hasn’t severely impacted affected person development in TCUP at the same time as meting out organizations complained of declining gross sales.
Is medical marijuana affected person enrollment rising in Texas?
Affected person enrollment stood at 135,470 on the finish of 2025, a year-over-year enhance of almost 32% that’s been attributed partially to consciousness of TCUP’s growth.
Since 2023, month over month enrollment development has averaged a good 3%, amounting for 100,000 new sufferers in Texas since that point.
Whereas Texas’ medical marijuana program is rising, it stays small in comparison with applications in different populous states, akin to Florida and Pennsylvania, which have 890,000 and 444,000 sufferers respectively.
With 31 million folks in Texas, fewer than 0.5% are enrolled in TCUP. That’s effectively beneath a nationwide common of about 2.1% medical hashish affected person enrollment present in a 2024 research funded by the Nationwide Institutes on Drug Abuse.
Each Florida and Pennsylvania provide entry to a wider vary of THC merchandise, together with the smokeable flower and pre-rolls nonetheless dominating baskets.
Affected person development a minimum of partially hinges on medical doctors. In keeping with The Texas Tribune, solely about 800 of Texas’ estimated 80,000 board-certified physicians are registered in this system.
That would change after Trump’s Dec. 18 govt order that directs the Justice Division to finalize a reclassification of hashish to Schedule 3, a class that acknowledges marijuana as drugs, whereas additionally calling for extra hashish analysis.
Main marijuana multistate operators flip to Texas
Final month, the Texas Division of Public Security additionally conditionally authorised 9 new dispensary licenses below the expanded program.
Just like how medical hashish is regulated in Virginia, every licensee will probably be restricted by geography to a particular area.
Companies looking for the permits, which aren’t but finalized, embody associates of marijuana multistate operators Trulieve Hashish Corp. and Verano Holdings, a powerful signal that nationwide hashish business gamers are lastly excited by Texas now that the medical market is evolving.
“We sit up for placing vegetation within the floor which might be grown in Texas, by Texans, and delivered to sufferers throughout the state, in accordance with the legislation,” George Archos, Verano’s CEO, instructed The Texas Tribune.
Actual gross sales figures stay a guarded secret in Texas. The state Division of Public Security (DPS), which administers this system, didn’t reply to requests for remark from MJBizDaily.
And gross sales figures weren’t revealed in a landmark 2024 report analyzing TCUP’s viability.
Largest medical hashish campus in Texas opens close to Austin
Texas’ current meting out organizations are betting on development.
In December, Texas Unique opened the state’s largest medical hashish facility: a 75,000-square-foot campus close to Austin that can permit the corporate to extend its manufacturing capability by “20x,” Texas Unique CEO Nico Richardson instructed MJBizDaily.
The TCUP growth additionally allows operators to dispense out of satellite tv for pc places, permitting same-day pickup and expanded supply companies.
Texas Unique presently has 17 pickup places, a satellite tv for pc location in South Austion, and has “extra in growth,” Richardson stated.
“We’re prepared to satisfy demand,” he stated in an emailed assertion.
“As Home Invoice 46 expands qualifying circumstances and supply strategies, we count on extra development and are positioned to serve Texans safely and responsibly.”
The $5.5 billion hemp THC query going through Texas medical hashish
Regardless of these features, the lingering hemp-derived THC query stays unresolved.
Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller has referred to as on Congress to repeal the hemp THC ban, warning of its potential influence on Texas companies.
However within the meantime, state businesses have proposed elevating charges on sure hemp corporations by as a lot as 13,000%, The Tribune reported.
In keeping with the Tribune, below draft guidelines unveiled in late December, a hemp producer license would value $25,000 per facility per yr – up from $250 – and a retail allow would value $20,000 per location per yr, up from $150.
New testing guidelines would additionally successfully forbid flower as a supply for last manufactured merchandise. That would depart synthetically derived THC, akin to delta-8 THC derived from CBD or delta-10 THC as options, critics stated.
Andrew Lengthy and Chris Roberts contributed to this report.
