Marijuana Moment: Texas Officials Approve New Medical Marijuana Business Licenses Under Plan To Expand Patient Access

[Tokeativity]

Texas officials have conditionally approved more new medical marijuana business licenses as part of a law that’s being implemented to significantly expand the state’s cannabis program.

The Department of Public Safety (DPS) announced on Wednesday that it initiated a second phase of the Texas Compassionate Use Program (TCUP) expansion selection process by picking three new businesses that can move forward in the process.

This comes months after the agency selected an initial wave of nine businesses to advance in Texas’s expanded medical cannabis licensing and approval process.

The new businesses that got approval this week “will be conditionally awarded TCUP licenses, subject to additional due diligence, such as disciplinary actions, financial suitability, litigation history and any other information as required by the department,” the announcement says.

Among the successful applicants are two affiliates of major multi-state marijuana businesses, GTI Texas, LLC dba RISE Dispensaries and Cresco Labs Texas, LLC. Texas Medica Collective, LLC was also selected.

Officials said the conditional approvals “do not grant the applicant permission to cultivate, manufacture, distribute or sell cannabis products until final approval by the department.”

“As a holder of a conditional license, the licensee is subject to the department’s ongoing due diligence evaluation,” DPS said. “Each conditional licensee is expected to fully comply with all statutory and regulatory requirements applicable to the medicinal license issued under TCUP.”

UPDATE: The Texas Department of Public Safety has initiated Phase II of the Texas Compassionate Use Program expansion selection process. Three new businesses have been selected to move forward for further due diligence, adding to the nine announced in Phase I last year. 12 other… pic.twitter.com/zSUnkAkYJA

— Texas DPS (@TxDPS) April 1, 2026

“DPS will request additional information from these businesses and will not invoice any dispensing organization license fees until the additional due diligence evaluations are completed and passed,” the department said. “The announcement of these three businesses today does not guarantee that these businesses will be issued final TCUP licenses to operate as dispensing organizations.”

The law passed by the legislature and signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott (R) in June. DPS is required to issue a total of 12 new licenses under the legislation.

In case any of the current selectees from the first and second phases fail to meet the requirement to become fully operational within 24 months of licensure, DPS on Wednesday also named 12 additional business “for possible future review.”

They are:

• Sawtooth Texas LLC
• Bluebonnet Technologies, LLC
• Village Farms, LP
• Lone Star Life, LLC
• Texas Health Systems, Inc
• MSC Lone Star, LLC
• Bayou City Medical Dispensary
• Sua Vaping Inc dba Vape City
• Texas CMP, LLC dba Texas Apothecary
• JG Texas LLC dba Justice Cannabis Co
• Sage and Stone Holistics, LLC
• TheraTrue Virginia, LLC dba TheraTrue

This represents a major expansion to the program, as there are currently only three medical cannabis dispensaries licensed to operate in Texas.

In addition to increasing the number of dispensaries in the state, the law signed by the governor also expands the state’s list of medical marijuana qualifying conditions to include chronic pain, traumatic brain injury (TBI), Crohn’s disease and other inflammatory bowel diseases, while also allowing end-of-life patients in palliative or hospice care to use marijuana.

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The TCUP expansion comes as Texas officials are implementing new restrictions on hemp products, including a ban on THCA smokable hemp flowers that took effect this week.

Last month,  Texas voters approved a marijuana legalization question that appeared on the state’s Democratic primary ballot.

A statewide poll released in February found that Texas voters don’t like how state leaders and lawmakers have handled marijuana and THC policy issues. In the survey, a plurality of voters (40 percent) said they disapprove of how their elected officials have approached the issue, according to the survey. Just 29 percent said they approve of how cannabis issues have been handled, while 31 percent said they didn’t have an opinion one way or another.

A separate poll released last year found that a plurality of Texas voters want the state’s marijuana laws to be made “less strict.” And among the legislative items lawmakers considered during recent special sessions, voters say a proposal to address hemp regulations was among the least important.

Meanwhile, the lieutenant governor and House speaker announced this week that the state will proceed with its own ibogaine research program after no drug companies submitted proposals meeting requirements and standards to receive state funds to begin clinical trials with the psychedelic under a recently enacted law.

Image element courtesy of AnonMoos.

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