Texas

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Last update: August 06, 2025

Texas becomes 40th medical cannabis state; Fate of hemp-derived THC products to be decided in special session

During Texas’ 2025 legislative session, its extremely powerful lieutenant governor, Dan Patrick (R), made banning hemp-derived THC products his top priority. Under intense pressure from Patrick, the Legislature sent Gov. Greg Abbott a bill, SB 3, to ban all THC products outside of the state’s low-THC medical cannabis program. Gov. Abbott vetoed SB 3 after an outcry from veterans and other advocates, and called a special session to regulate the products. Also in 2025, lawmakers approved and Gov. Abbott signed the largest expansion of Texas’ restrictive medical cannabis program since its inception (HB 46).

The Texas Compassionate Use Program (TCUP), the state's low-THC medical program, has been so restrictive that it failed to provide patients effective, affordable access to cannabis products. Until 2025, the state only allowed three medical cannabis businesses and it had an extremely limited list of ailments covered by the program, which did not include chronic pain. Cannabis products could only have 1% THC, and no inhaled products were allowed. The number of participating patients continued to shrink, due to patients finding relief in hemp-derived products. By the end of 2024, less than 4,000 patients a month were participating in TCUP.

Texas becomes the 40th state with a comprehensive medical cannabis program

Advocates and legislators knew the key in 2025 to keeping the TCUP functional was expanding the program. At the same time, many conservative lawmakers only agreed to the TCUP expansion if the state banned consumable hemp products.

Amid what appeared to be an unstoppable juggernaut to limit access to hemp-derived THC, even many ardent prohibitionists realized that medical access to THC (TCUP) needed to be expanded. Several bills were introduced in the Legislature but all fell short of what the public demanded. During a marathon hearing on banning THC in hemp products, veterans and other witnesses testified for over 14 hours about how THC products had positively impacted their lives. The first attempts at legislation to expand the TCUP were very limited in scope and the public outcry continued to grow. Texans wanted access to a comprehensive medical cannabis program, not the low-THC program that the state had in place.

Rep. Ken King (R) proposed HB46 to expand the TCUP program. The House passed HB 46 on May 13, 2025, in a 122-21 vote. On May 27, the Senate passed a substitute that was much more restrictive than the House-passed version. The House rejected the Senate amendments and the bill was sent to a conference committee to iron out the differences. Gov. Greg Abbott signed the final legislation into law on June 20, 2025.

The final bill:

Expands qualifying conditions, including by adding chronic pain
Add modes of delivery, including non-smoked inhalation
Expands the number of licensees from three to 15, while allowing satellite locations
Replaces the 1% THC limit with a 1 gram of THC per package limit

You can find a summary of the expansion that HB46 accomplished here, as well as an updated overview of the Compassionate Use Program . These improvements take effect on September 1, 2025.

Powerful forces attempt to ban hemp-derived THC products, fall short

As Texas’ 2025 legislative session began, it appeared that prohibition forces had the momentum. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) made it a top priority to ban all cannabinoids (with the exception of CBD and CBG) outside of the extremely limited Texas Compassionate Use Program. Sen. Charles Perry (R) introduced SB 3 — which would have banned THC and other cannabinoids — on his behalf.

Hemp products were legalized in Texas after the legislature passed a hemp bill in 2019 in the aftermath of the passage of the 2018 federal Farm Bill. The Texas hemp industry grew, and by 2025 it had become an economic engine that generated an estimated $8 billion annually. The industry employs over 50,000 Texans with over 8,000 permitted hemp retailers operating across the state. The lieutenant governor even touted a poll that found that 55% of Texans want to rein in the unregulated hemp market, without mentioning that same poll found 62% support for full legalization, 69% support for decriminalization, and 79% support for creating a comprehensive medical cannabis program.

The legislature had failed to provide further regulations on the hemp-derived THC market in both 2021 and 2023. The fact that the legislature had never put any age restrictions on these products meant that they were ending up in schools and children were having negative consequences after consuming them. Raw botanical hemp flower became available after a 2021 court decision. And concern mounted after the introduction of novel semi-synthetic cannabinoids.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick used his considerable power as president of the Senate to strong arm legislators in both houses to pass SB 3. The votes were 26-5 in the Senate and 87-54 in the House.

More than 150,000 Texans signed petitions calling for Gov. Abbott to veto the bill. Texas VFW leaders shared powerful testimonials about how hemp-derived products improved their health. Less than an hour before his deadline to act, Gov. Abbott vetoed SB 3. He then called for a special session of the legislature, which convened on July 21, with the regulation of hemp products as one of the issues the session would deal with. His veto message included several details about the regulations that he would like to see. The future of hemp-derived THC products in Texas will be decided in this special session. Prohibitionist forces submitted S5 by Sen. Charles Perry (R ) in an attempt to ban all cannabinoids with the exception of CBD and CBG.

Decriminalization victories on local level challenged by state

Leading up to the 2025 legislative session, local advocates scored their biggest ballot initiative victory yet. Voters in Dallas voted overwhelmingly to decriminalize cannabis on November 5, 2024. More than two-thirds of voters approved the Dallas Freedom Act, which made it a policy to not arrest or cite people for possession of four ounces or less of cannabis flower, nor can police use the smell of cannabis as probable cause for a search of a person or vehicle.

Voters passed similar ordinances in Bastrop (69.8%) and Lockhart (68%) last November. These cities joined Houston, Austin, San Marcos, and Killeen in not arresting people for possessing small amounts of cannabis. The cities of Harker Heights, Elgin, and Denton passed similar ordinances but their City Councils refused to implement the will of the voters.

As in other cities that have voted on and implemented decriminalization, state Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued the City of Dallas to stay the implementation of the ordinance. In early July, the City of Dallas agreed to put a stay in place for the implementation as the case will be finally decided by the courts. In late April, a state appeals court, whose three judges had been appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott, ruled that the city of San Marcos’ decriminalization ordinance was preempted by state law. Then that same court overruled the implementation of the Austin decriminalization ordinance, which had been in effect for three years. That case will go to trial to decide the fate of the Austin ordinance. Whether local police will begin to arrest people again for possession of cannabis is still to be determined.

Meanwhile, at the state level, Sen. Charles Perry (R) had filed SB1870, which would have banned cities and counties, even those with Home Rule Charters, from adopting ordinances that run contrary to state drug law. If enacted, this would have negated all of the decriminalization ordinances passed by voters over the past several years. The legislation passed the Senate but eventually died in the House of Representatives.

Rep. Moody continued decriminalization efforts die in 2025

Currently, Texas remains one of only 19 states that still jails people for possession of small amounts of cannabis. It also leads the country in the number of arrests annually. In 2023, Texas authorities made over 23,000 arrests for cannabis violations.

Rep. Joe Moody (D) sponsored HB3242 which would have, among other reforms, made possession of up to one ounce of cannabis flower a violation with no potential jail time. It would have also not involved a custodial arrest, and would have created the mechanism for expungement of low-level cannabis offenses. In the 2023 legislative session, Rep. Moody had similar legislation pass the House of Representatives, but the Senate did not schedule a hearing. In 2025, this legislation was not granted a committee hearing in the House.

Legalization legislation die without hearings

Several pieces of legislation were introduced to legalize cannabis for adults 21 and older. HB1208 and SB335 would have legalized cannabis and created the regulatory framework for legal possession and distribution of cannabis, including the right for individuals to grow cannabis at home. HB1763 would have removed penalties for possession of cannabis and paraphernalia, among other changes to relax cannabis laws. You can let your legislator know you support ending cannabis prohibition here. None of those bills were granted a hearing in the 2025 session.

Texas has a unique way in which it approaches the therapeutic use of cannabis products. Texas continues to be the only state that has medical practitioners prescribe medical cannabis. So far, this has not been an issue, but the use of the term prescription still concerns many in the policy sphere due to federal laws concerning cannabis. With passage of HB46, Marijuana Policy Project now considers the Texas Compassionate Use Program a comprehensive medical cannabis program. But it should be noted that the TCUP is still a very restrictive program. Advocates are expected to continue to press the legislature on limitations of conditions covered by the program and the lack of access to botanical cannabis, often referred to as flower. The next legislative session is in 2027, after the state elections in November 2026. It is worth noting that primaries will be held in March of 2026 ahead of those state elections.