{"id":232547,"date":"2026-04-02T23:10:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T23:10:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/232547\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T23:10:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T23:10:11","slug":"texas-tentatively-approves-3-new-dispensaries-for-medical-cannabis-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/232547\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas tentatively approves 3 new dispensaries for medical cannabis program"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThree medical cannabis businesses have been conditionally approved to participate in the Texas Compassionate Use Program<\/a>, state officials announced April 1.<\/p>\n

The companies received conditional licenses<\/a> from the Texas Department of Public Safety in an effort to expand access to medical cannabis products. Under the compassionate use program, physicians can prescribe medical-grade, low-THC products to eligible patients in partnership with licensed dispensaries.<\/p>\n

As Texas expands its medical cannabis program, the state is also tightening restrictions on the multibillion-dollar consumable hemp industry, Community Impact reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The big picture<\/p>\n

During the 2025 state legislative session, some Texas groups lobbied for an expansion of the 10-year old program, citing barriers to patient access<\/a> and limits on the types of medication physicians could prescribe. Since the program was founded in 2015, just three dispensaries\u2014Texas Original<\/a>, Goodblend<\/a> and Fluent<\/a>\u2014have been licensed<\/a> to provide medical cannabis products.<\/p>\n

In response, lawmakers passed House Bill 46<\/a>, expanding the types of cannabis products physicians can prescribe; amending the list of qualifying medical conditions; and directing the DPS to license 12 additional dispensaries.<\/p>\n

DPS officials issued nine conditional licenses Dec. 1 to medical cannabis companies that had previously applied to join the program, Community Impact reported<\/a>. Conditional licensees must pass additional state evaluations before they can begin operating, according to the DPS.<\/p>\n

Two of the three businesses given conditional licenses April 1 are affiliated with existing medical cannabis dispensaries that work in several other states. The new licensees are:<\/p>\n

GTI Texas, LLC (doing business as RISE Dispensaries<\/a>) in West TexasCresco Labs<\/a> Texas, LLC in East TexasTexas Medica Collective, LLC in Northeast TexasChicago-based RISE Dispensaries has 97 recreational and medical cannabis locations in 14 states, according to its website<\/a>. Cresco Labs is also headquartered in Chicago and offers medical and recreational cannabis products at 71 dispensaries in 8 states, per its website<\/a>. Texas Medica Collective is not listed as operating in any other states.<\/p>\n

How the program works<\/p>\n

Under HB 46, Texas lawmakers added chronic pain, Crohn\u2019s disease and terminal illnesses to the list of conditions that qualify patients to join the medical cannabis program. Other qualifying conditions include epilepsy, cancer and post-traumatic stress disorder.<\/p>\n

Doctors involved in the compassionate use program also received the authority to prescribe additional types of medication, including inhalers and vaping devices, Community Impact previously reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

HB 46 also allows licensed dispensaries to create satellite locations to store medical cannabis products overnight, which advocates said will allow more patients to receive medications on the day they order them and \u201cdramatically reduce\u201d costs. Texas Original recently opened satellite locations in San Antonio, Plano, Nacogdoches, Lubbock and Tyler, Community Impact reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The twelve companies given conditional licenses in December and April must pass state \u201cdue diligence evaluations\u201d before they can cultivate, manufacture, distribute or sell low-THC cannabis medications, according to the DPS. The agency previously said it will look into each company\u2019s finances, litigation history and past disciplinary actions before awarding official licenses.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe announcement of these three businesses today does not guarantee that these businesses will be issued final TCUP licenses to operate as dispensing organizations,\u201d the DPS said in an April 1 news release.<\/p>\n

As of press time, the nine companies granted conditional licenses in December were not yet included in the DPS\u2019 list of active dispensaries<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Businesses are required to become \u201cfully operational\u201d within 24 months of licensure, according to the release.<\/p>\n

More context<\/p>\n

The expansion of Texas\u2019 medical cannabis program comes as state agencies are cracking down on the recreational industry. Sweeping state regulations took effect March 31<\/a>, raising fees for hemp businesses by more than 3,000% and reclassifying how THC content is measured in consumable hemp products.<\/p>\n

Texas law previously<\/a> classified products as legal hemp if they contained no more than 0.3% Delta-9 THC\u2014the primary psychoactive ingredient in cannabis\u2014by dry weight. New rules<\/a> from the state health department require that products be measured by total THC content, including a naturally occurring cannabinoid called THCA.<\/p>\n

Industry leaders told Community Impact that the reclassification outlaws most smokable products containing the natural hemp flower, which is more potent than some synthetic THC compounds. Experts estimated that about half of the consumable hemp products sold by Texas\u2019 roughly 9,000 hemp retailers contain the smokable flower.<\/p>\n

Hemp beverages, edibles and tinctures will remain available in Texas stores and bars, as long as they do not exceed legal THC limits and meet other new requirements, Community Impact reported.<\/p>\n

One more thing<\/p>\n

Twelve additional medical cannabis businesses were placed on the DPS\u2019 \u201clicense eligibility list\u201d for possible further review, the state agency said April 1. If a business granted a conditional license fails state evaluations or violates other requirements, the agency will consider licensing companies on the eligibility list.<\/p>\n

The businesses on the license eligibility list, which do not currently operate in Texas, include:<\/p>\n

Sawtooth Texas LLCBluebonnet Technologies, LLCVillage Farms, LPLone Star Life, LLCTexas Health Systems, Inc.MSC Lone Star, LLCBayou City Medical DispensarySua Vaping Inc (doing business as Vape City)Texas CMP, LLC (doing business as Texas Apothecary)JG Texas LLC (doing business as Justice Cannabis Co.)Sage and Stone Holistics, LLCTheraTrue Virginia, LLC (doing business as TheraTrue)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Three medical cannabis businesses have been conditionally approved to participate in the Texas Compassionate Use Program, state officials…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":232548,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133,90017,90009,90016,90006,90005,90007,90014,90004,90011,90010,90015,36569,36570,2785,90008,53085,90003,90002,90013,76085,90012],"class_list":{"0":"post-232547","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-austin","8":"tag-austin","9":"tag-austin-headlines","10":"tag-austin-news","11":"tag-conditional-licenses","12":"tag-consumable-hemp-regulations","13":"tag-cresco-labs-texas","14":"tag-fluent","15":"tag-goodblend","16":"tag-house-bill-46","17":"tag-medical-cannabis-expansion","18":"tag-medical-dispensaries-texas","19":"tag-new-texas-hemp-rules","20":"tag-recreational-thc","21":"tag-rise-dispensaries-texas","22":"tag-tcup","23":"tag-texas-compassionate-use-program","24":"tag-texas-dps","25":"tag-texas-hb-46","26":"tag-texas-hemp-retailers","27":"tag-texas-medical-cannabis-dispensaries","28":"tag-texas-medical-cannabis-program","29":"tag-texas-medical-cannabis-providers","30":"tag-texas-original","31":"tag-texas-smokable-cannabis-ban"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232547\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/232548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}