Texas has issued licenses for nine additional companies to sell medical THC in the state as early as next year. The state has an obligation to act carefully and fairly when it licenses companies to sell pharmaceuticals, including medical THC.<\/p>\n
After the licenses are finalized, the new \u201cdispensing organizations\u201d will be permanently authorized to open an unlimited number of highly secure retail dispensaries in every region of the state \u2014 dramatically changing the landscape and reach of the 10-year-old program.<\/p>\n
All of them have had their eyes on a coveted medical-marijuana license in Texas for years, some of them registering as early as 2019 and gaining political support for potential facilities as long as two years ago. <\/p>\n
Political Points<\/p>\n
By signing up, you agree to our\u00a0Terms of Service<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n They\u2019ve since been waiting, applications gathering electronic dust in a state inbox somewhere, until the opportunity \u2013 and the legislative tipping point \u2013 finally arrived. <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve long anticipated the opportunity to serve the patients under the Texas compassionate use program,\u201d said James Leventis, chief strategy and compliance officer for Verano, which is assigned to West Texas and the El Paso area. \u201cWe\u2019re going to be extremely strong stewards of the program, and what the Legislature intends with these expansions to the program.\u201d<\/p>\n The exterior of Verano\u2019s Zen Leaf dispensary in Gilbert, Ariz. The company plans to open the same brand of retail dispensaries in Texas after being preliminarily approved for a new medical THC license.<\/p>\n Courtesy: Verano Texas LLC<\/p>\n With near-unanimous agreement and support from GOP state leaders, the Texas Legislature raised the number of license holders<\/a> from 3 to 15, allowed them to open dispensaries and storage facilities around the state, and expanded the list of conditions that would qualify patients for treatment with products containing medical-grade tetrahydrocannabinol, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. <\/p>\n The stakes are high for the providers and the patients. Texas has the highest rate of uninsured people in the nation, and dispensaries in states like Florida \u2013 which serves more than 900,000 residents in its medical marijuana program \u2013 have reported billions<\/a> in annual revenue. <\/p>\n Known as TCUP, the program serves about 116,000 patients in what has been one of the nation\u2019s most limited state medical marijuana programs. The program is administered by the DPS.<\/p>\n State public safety officials looked over 133 initial applications before naming the first nine on Monday. <\/p>\n The application process for each provider included reviewing company histories as well as documentation on their chemistry and extraction methods for cultivating, processing and dispensing the high-potency products. <\/p>\n Those documents included explanations on lab testing protocol, the ability to handle patient information within confidential rules, compliance with workforce regulations, inventory control and record-keeping systems \u2013 as well as security and operational plans that had to be updated in September.<\/p>\n The nine new providers and the public health regions they have been assigned as their base include: <\/p>\n Verano Texas LLC, in the El Paso regionTrulieve TX Inc. in the PanhandleTexas Patient Access LLC in North Texas Dilatso LLC in North TexasLonestar Compassionate Care Group LLC in North TexasLone Star Bioscience Inc. in San Antonio and Central TexasPC TX OPCO LLC\/PharmaCann in the Houston areaStory of Texas LLC in the Houston areaTexa OP\/TexaRx in the Rio Grande Valley <\/p>\n The new licensees will join the three current providers in the Texas Compassionate Use Program<\/a> \u2013 only two of which, Goodblend Texas and Texas Original, are currently operating. They will be allowed to sell, cultivate, manufacture and distribute medical cannabis products to qualified patients.<\/p>\n As licensed \u201cdispensing organizations,\u201d the providers will have up to two years to get their hubs and dispensaries up and running. <\/p>\n At least one company, one of the largest medical-marijuana providers in the nation, promises to have their operation running \u201cin record-breaking time.\u201d <\/p>\n Verano submitted a detailed application in April 2023, including thousands of pages of operational, financial and compliance plans, Leventis said. The company plans to open Zen Leaf-branded dispensaries across Texas, prioritizing the public health region that includes El Paso. <\/p>\n With medical-focused dispensaries in 13 states, Verano plans to be operational sometime next year, Leventis said. <\/p>\n Unlike the vibey head shops and colorful lounges covered in photos of weed plants commonly associated with the THC-focused retail market, medical dispensaries in states where recreational marijuana is illegal \u2013 such as Texas \u2013 tend to have a more sterile aesthetic, dispensary owners said. <\/p>\n They cater to clients with real medical needs who want to buy their prescriptions in an environment they trust, Leventis said.<\/p>\n A customer enters Verano\u2019s Zen Leaf dispensary in Aurora, IL.<\/p>\n Courtesy: Verano<\/p>\n The North Texas public health regions, as designated by the Texas Department of State Health Services, stretch from Rockwall on the east to Stonewall on the west, north to the Oklahoma border and south to Brownwood at the edge of the Texas Hill Country.<\/p>\n The region, which encompasses the entire Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, will gain three licensed, vertically integrated \u201cdispensing organizations.\u201d <\/p>\n Lonestar Compassionate Care is co-founded by Frisco commercial construction executive William \u201cBill\u201d Penz and is expected to build its primary growing, manufacturing and retail location in Pilot Point, according to 2023 city council documents. <\/p>\n Dilatso lists Arizona-based<\/a> pharmacist and investor Jigar Patel as a managing member. Patel\u2019s Arizona-based \u201cNature\u2019s Medicines\u201d began as a medical marijana company and expanded into states across the U.S. as both a medicinal and recreational retailer. <\/p>\n A third new licensee assigned to the North Texas public health region, Texas Patient Access LLC, was incorporated in March 2023 and lists as its parent DCEP Texas LLC, based in Ohio and registered in Texas the same year.<\/p>\n The expansion comes as the state\u2019s hemp industry \u2014 the legal, recreational side of the cannabis market in Texas with more than 9,000 licensed retailers \u2014 wrestles with a potential federal ban on all hemp-based consumable items. Congress recently voted to make them illegal by November 2026. Some politicians in Washington, D.C., have signaled that they\u2019ll support a law regulating the products and preempting the threatened ban. <\/p>\n The industry successfully batted away a statewide ban with the help of Gov. Greg Abbott, who in June vetoed<\/a> the only hemp prohibition to make it out of the legislature. <\/p>\n Some local, some national<\/p>\n According to government and business records, none of the new licensees appear to have operated any sort of active cannabis-related business in Texas \u2013 including hemp-based consumables or non-intoxicating CBD products \u2013 although several have owners with deep Texas ties and at least one of those partners has experience with another medical-marijuana provider in the state. <\/p>\n Lonestar Compassionate Care LLC \u2013 founded by Penz and Armen Yemenidjian, a Nevada-based cannabis company investor, according to early company documents \u2013 was appointed to build a hub in the North Texas area. <\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/W6VEVPC65BDKLMNM3DDSR3YCIM.jpg\")
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