For years stifled by regulation, Texas’ modest medical hashish trade is poised to growth 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 continues to be posing questions that each lawmakers and hashish companies must reply.
For nearly a decade, the one product accessible 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 allotting 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.
Considered one of Texas’ three allotting organizations was “successfully inoperable” for a number of years, based on the Texas Division of Public Security.
The longstanding restricted authorized hashish entry performed in a job within the explosive rise of hemp-derived THC within the state, as annoyed sufferers – and would-be sufferers – ditched TCUP for hemp THC accessible on-line and in quite a few brick-and-mortar areas.
Main growth for Texas medical marijuana
In response, final June, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed into regulation Home Invoice 46, a broad growth of medical hashish.
Beneath 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 bundle.
- The variety of accessible vertically built-in companies licenses for allotting 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 regulation.
Along with oil, sufferers can entry topical lotions, patches, suppositories, and prescribed inhalers and vaping gadgets.
Smokable flower continues to be unavailable, sustaining the state’s cautious, anti-recreational use strategy.
Texas makes hashish THC accessible, however hemp THC stays
Abbott signed the TCUP growth into regulation 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 manage hemp THC merchandise just like alcohol, together with age restrictions and necessary ID checks.
That prompted a victory lap for the Texas hemp trade that will transform non permanent.
A pending federal ban, signed into regulation 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 huge Texas hemp trade affords rather more entry to THC than the medical program.
That stated, the hemp trade hasn’t severely impacted affected person progress in TCUP at the same time as allotting 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 partly to consciousness of TCUP’s growth.
Since 2023, month over month enrollment progress has averaged a decent 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 packages in different populous states, reminiscent of Florida and Pennsylvania, which have 890,000 and 444,000 sufferers respectively.
With 31 million individuals in Texas, fewer than 0.5% are enrolled in TCUP. That’s effectively under 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 progress no less than partly hinges on docs. In line 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 accepted 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 selected 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 trade gamers are lastly interested by Texas now that the medical market is evolving.
“We sit up for placing crops within the floor which are grown in Texas, by Texans, and delivered to sufferers throughout the state, in accordance with the regulation,” 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 allotting organizations are betting on progress.
In December, Texas Unique opened the state’s largest medical hashish facility: a 75,000-square-foot campus close to Austin that can enable 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 areas, permitting same-day pickup and expanded supply providers.
Texas Unique presently has 17 pickup areas, a satellite tv for pc location in South Austion, and has “extra in improvement,” Richardson stated.
“We’re prepared to fulfill demand,” he stated in an emailed assertion.
“As Home Invoice 46 expands qualifying circumstances and supply strategies, we count on extra progress and are positioned to serve Texans safely and responsibly.”
The $5.5 billion hemp THC query dealing with Texas medical hashish
Regardless of these good points, 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 affect on Texas companies.
However within the meantime, state businesses have proposed elevating charges on sure hemp firms by as a lot as 13,000%, The Tribune reported.
In line with the Tribune, below draft guidelines unveiled in late December, a hemp producer license would price $25,000 per facility per yr – up from $250 – and a retail allow would price $20,000 per location per yr, up from $150.
New testing guidelines would additionally successfully forbid flower as a supply for remaining manufactured merchandise. That would depart synthetically derived THC, reminiscent of delta-8 THC derived from CBD or delta-10 THC as alternate options, critics stated.
Andrew Lengthy and Chris Roberts contributed to this report.
