Right now, a new business can’t apply for a cannabis license in Texas. As of November 2026, the only marijuana-type license is the dispensing organization license in the Texas Compassionate Use Program (TCUP), issued by the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), and the 2025 expansion round that filled every new slot has already closed.
Adult-use (recreational) marijuana is still illegal in Texas. What a newcomer can still get is a hemp license or registration from the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS), but that market has been squeezed hard since 2025 by an age limit, steep fee increases, product bans and a federal hemp change that is about to take effect.
This guide covers both paths: the medical license and its last round, then what a hemp business can legally do now. We checked DPS and DSHS pages, the statute and the rules in late October and early November 2026.
Key takeaways
- Texas has a small, medical-only program, and DPS is the only state agency that licenses cannabis businesses in it.
- The 2025 expansion round is closed, every new license slot has gone to a conditional winner, and DPS hasn’t announced another round.
- A company that missed out can mainly hope for a slot to reopen from the state’s eligibility list, buy into a licensee with DPS approval, or wait for the Legislature to add licenses.
- Hemp retail is still licensable, but it now carries an age limit, much higher state fees and a shrinking list of legal products, with a federal ban coming soon.
- Rules differ by state and change often. Always confirm current requirements with DPS or DSHS before you invest.
Who regulates cannabis businesses in Texas?
Two state agencies split the work, and a third handles hemp farming:
- Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS): Its Regulatory Services Division licenses dispensing organizations, registers their owners and staff, inspects facilities and runs the Compassionate Use Registry of Texas, where doctors enter prescriptions. The program rests on Chapter 487 of the Health and Safety Code and Title 37, Chapter 12 of the Texas Administrative Code.
- Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS): Licenses businesses that make consumable hemp products and registers stores that sell them, under Chapter 443 of the Health and Safety Code and 25 TAC Chapter 300.
- Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA): Licenses people who grow hemp, under the 2019 hemp law, House Bill 1325.
As of November 2026, medical use is legal only for registered patients buying “low-THC cannabis” from a licensed dispensing organization. Adult-use is illegal, and hemp products are legal only within strict state and federal limits.
How the medical program grew
Senate Bill 339 created the program in 2015, and DPS licensed the first three dispensing organizations in 2017. Later bills widened who qualifies as a patient. House Bill 46, effective September 1, 2025, was the largest change yet. It raised the number of licenses, allowed satellite sites and replaced the old cap of 1% THC by weight with a limit of 10 milligrams of THC per dosage unit. It also lets doctors prescribe vapor or aerosol forms when they decide inhalation is needed.
What cannabis license types are there in Texas?
Texas has one marijuana-type license, plus staff registrations and the separate hemp credentials. The table covers every type and the fees in 37 TAC §12.14 and on the DSHS hemp program page.
| License type | What it lets you do | Application fee | Annual or renewal fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dispensing organization license (DPS) | Grow, process and dispense low-THC cannabis to registered patients; the only TCUP business license | $7,356 nonrefundable application fee, plus a $488,520 license fee for a two-year term, due when the license is approved | $318,511 biennial renewal fee |
| Satellite location (DPS approval) | Store and hand over prescriptions at an approved site away from the main facility | No separate license; DPS approval needed. Approval fee not published; ask DPS | Covered by the main license |
| Director, owner, manager or employee registration (DPS) | Lets a person own, run or work for a dispensing organization | $530 per person | $530 per renewal |
| Consumable hemp product license (DSHS) | Make or process consumable hemp products such as CBD oils, edibles and drinks | $10,000 per location each year, plus the Texas.gov online fee | Same fee every year |
| Retail hemp registration (DSHS) | Sell consumable hemp products to adults from a store | $5,000 per location each year, plus the Texas.gov online fee | Same fee every year |
| Hemp grower license (TDA) | Grow hemp plants for sale | Not published on the pages we checked; ask TDA | Not published; ask TDA |
| Adult-use, delivery, lounge or microbusiness licenses | Not available in Texas | Not available | Not available |
A few fee rules matter. The DPS application fee is nonrefundable, the much larger license fee is billed only once a license is approved, and all DPS fees are paid electronically. The DSHS hemp fees took effect with new rules on March 31, 2026. Before that, a retail registration cost $155 a year and a manufacturer license $258, according to the hemp trade group CRAFT. Compare other markets in our guide to dispensary license costs by state.
Are Texas cannabis licenses open right now?
No. As of November 2026, DPS isn’t accepting dispensing organization applications, and it hasn’t announced a future window.
How the 2025 expansion round worked
House Bill 46 told DPS to have 15 licenses in place, enough to serve patients in each public health region. Three organizations were already licensed, so 12 new licenses were up for grabs in two phases:
- Phase I: Nine licenses for companies that had applied in the 2023 window. They had until September 15, 2025, to update their files.
- Phase II: Three licenses for first-time applicants, who filed Form CUP-101 by 5:00 p.m. Central on September 15, 2025.
DPS named nine conditional licensees in December 2025 and three more on April 1, 2026. On May 8, 2026, it corrected the scoring, which had skipped the 25% weighting set for each of four categories. The fix swapped three winners with three companies from the eligibility list.
Conditional licenses and the eligibility list
A conditional license doesn’t allow growing or selling yet. Each winner must clear due diligence on discipline, finances and litigation, and DPS bills the license fee only after that. Once licensed, a company must start dispensing within 24 months and keep dispensing, or DPS must revoke the license. DPS also published an unranked eligibility list of 12 companies, and it says it will pick replacements from that list if a licensee fails to open.
Can you buy an existing license?
Only with DPS approval. Under the amended Section 487.105, a license can’t move to a new owner until that person and the business’s directors, owners, managers and employees pass a criminal history check and are registered. Hire a Texas cannabis attorney before you sign anything.
How do you apply for a Texas dispensing organization license?
Because no window is open, use this as a preparation plan. In 2025, new applicants had only weeks between the announcement and the deadline.
What the last application asked for
The CUP-101 form (revised January 2026) asks applicants to rank the public health regions they want to serve, then upload seven exhibits through a secure DPS portal: proof of the entity, owner and staff disclosures, insurance, premises and security, operations and diversion control, finances, and technical ability. DPS doesn’t accept these by email.
What requirements do you need to meet?
Ownership and residency
The applicant must show a Certificate of Existence or Authority from the Texas Secretary of State and a Certificate of Good Standing from the Texas Comptroller, so the business must be formed in or registered to do business in Texas. We didn’t find a rule that owners must live in Texas.
Background checks and disqualifying offenses
Every director, owner, manager, member and employee must be disclosed, with all convictions and deferred adjudications, and must register with DPS. HB 46 exempts people who have no direct control over daily operations from the listing rule. DPS rules in 37 TAC Chapter 12 decide which criminal history disqualifies someone, so check them with your attorney before you build your team.
Capital
No fixed dollar minimum appears in the statute. Instead, you must prove you can operate for at least two years from the date you apply, backed by a two-year budget, a current balance sheet and a Dun & Bradstreet report.
Real estate
You need property details, a site map and floor plans showing locked storage, safes, vaults, alarms and camera coverage. The final version of HB 46 doesn’t include the school-distance rule that appeared in an earlier draft, but local zoning still applies.
Security plan and SOPs
Plans must cover diversion prevention, emergencies, inventory, recordkeeping, waste, recalls, a start-up timeline and vehicle tracking. Our dispensary security requirements guide covers what inspectors usually look for.
Insurance
The form requires commercial general liability coverage of $1 million per occurrence and $2 million aggregate, plus $1 million of product liability. A letter of intent works at the application stage, but you need a valid certificate before final approval.
Staff registrations
DPS doesn’t accept staff registrations until a license is issued. After that, the license holder must give DPS a prospective hire’s name before hiring. See our budtender training requirements guide for building a training plan.
Local approval and zoning in Texas
Texas law limits local control over the medical program. Section 487.201, as amended by HB 46, says a city, county or other political subdivision may not adopt or enforce a rule that prohibits growing, producing, storing, dispensing or possessing low-THC cannabis as the chapter allows. That covers satellite sites too.
Cities still regulate ordinary land use, building permits and signs, so get a zoning letter before you sign a lease. City decriminalization votes never created business licenses, and in 2025 an appeals court sided with Attorney General Ken Paxton and struck down the Austin and San Marcos ordinances.
Social equity or small-business programs
Texas has no social equity licensing program, reserved licenses or fee discounts. The 2025 round was a straight competitive evaluation. Hemp is the main small-business route, and its per-location fees hit single-store owners hardest.
Texas cannabis market at a glance
The hemp side: what a business can legally do now
- The 2025 fight: Senate Bill 3 would have banned hemp products with any cannabinoid other than CBD or CBG. Gov. Greg Abbott vetoed it in June 2025 and asked for regulation instead. Two special sessions followed. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick backed a full THC ban, the Senate passed one, and the House refused to take it up, so no hemp bill passed.
- Executive order: Abbott’s Executive Order GA-56, issued September 10, 2025, told DSHS, the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission and DPS to bar sales to anyone under 21, require ID checks and tighten testing, labeling and marketing.
- New rules: DSHS adopted emergency age rules on October 2, 2025, and permanent rules effective March 31, 2026. Those rules raised fees and count THCA toward the 0.3% total THC limit.
- Court rulings: In May 2026, the Texas Supreme Court ruled for DSHS in the long-running delta-8 case. DSHS issued new rules in July, and from July 31, 2026, delta-8, delta-10, THCP and THCA flower were off-limits, according to the Texas Tribune. Delta-9 products under 0.3% THC by dry weight remain legal. A federal judge in Galveston refused to pause the ban in August while the industry’s lawsuit continues.
- Vapes: The Legislature banned THC vape sales in 2025.
A federal change is next. Congress redefined hemp in a law signed November 12, 2025. It caps hemp products at 0.4 milligrams of total THC per container and bans synthetic cannabinoids. A stopgap funding law signed September 2, 2026, pushed most of that change to December 11, 2026, while cannabinoids the plant can’t naturally produce still become illegal on November 12, 2026. Sen. Charles Perry has said he will file a bill to ban consumable hemp products in the next session. Read our explainer on whether THCA flower is legal for more background.
After you’re licensed: staying compliant
- Renewals: Dispensing organization licenses renew every two years, and staff registrations renew separately. Hemp licenses and registrations renew every year, per location.
- Prescriptions and tracking: You may fill only prescriptions entered in the state registry. Track every plant and product from source to sale; our seed-to-sale tracking explainer shows how these systems work.
- Inspections: DPS physically inspects licensed dispensing organizations on a regular basis, and DSHS inspects hemp licensees and posts disciplinary actions online.
- Satellites: DPS has 180 days to decide on each satellite application, and you can’t open a second satellite in a region until you have one in every region.
- Products: Dispense only plant-derived cannabinoids within the THC limit. Our packaging and labeling guide and dispensary compliance checklist help you build routines.
Your Texas cannabis license checklist
- Accept that no dispensing organization window is open, and decide whether to wait, buy in, or work in hemp.
- Form a Texas entity or register yours with the Secretary of State, and get a Comptroller good-standing certificate.
- List every director, owner, manager, member and employee, and review their criminal histories against the DPS rules.
- Build a two-year budget and line up proof that you can fund it.
- Pick the public health regions you’d serve, shortlist sites and get zoning letters.
- Draft security, diversion-control, recall and start-up plans.
- Get insurance quotes that meet the CUP-101 limits.
- If you choose hemp, budget the per-location DSHS fee, set up ID checks for buyers under 21, and plan for the federal change in December 2026.
For new cannabis businesses: get found on WhereLeaf
Once you hold a license and open, patients still need to find you. Add your business to WhereLeaf so people using our dispensary finder can see your location, hours and products, and compare our listing packages if you want more visibility. We can’t promise rankings or sales, but an accurate listing helps people find a licensed business. Suppliers can join our supplier directory.
Comparing markets? See all our cannabis license guides by state and province.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a cannabis license cost in Texas?
The table above lists the state fees. The real cost is much higher, because you must prove you can fund two full years of operations before you earn anything, and you’ll pay for a secure grow, lab methods and statewide coverage plans on top.
Is recreational weed legal in Texas in 2026?
No. Adult-use marijuana is illegal as of November 2026, and neither chamber has passed a legalization bill. State leaders have focused on hemp limits instead.
Can I open a dispensary in Texas?
Not as a new, standalone business. Only licensed dispensing organizations can dispense, and they grow and process their own products. Satellite sites belong to those licensees, so they’re not a way in for outsiders.
Can a dispensing organization deliver in Texas?
Licensed dispensing organizations can transport products to patients and approved satellites in tracked vehicles under their DPS-approved security plans. There’s no separate delivery license for anyone else. See our guide on how to start a cannabis delivery business for how other states do it.
Do I need to live in Texas?
We didn’t find an owner residency rule. The business itself must be on file with the Texas Secretary of State, and every owner must register with DPS.
How long does it take to open after approval?
The 2025 winners went through months of due diligence after their conditional awards. A goodblend spokesperson told the Texas Tribune that new licensees could need nine months to a year to open, though the law gives them longer.
This guide is general information, not legal advice. Rules and fees change, so confirm everything with the Texas Department of Public Safety before you apply.
Sources
- Texas Department of Public Safety: DPS Accepting Applications for Texas Compassionate Use Program Expansion (2025)
- Texas Department of Public Safety: Phase II of Texas Compassionate Use Program Expansion Selection Process (2026)
- Texas Department of Public Safety: DPS Releases Corrected Tabulation for Texas Compassionate Use Program Expansion (2026)
- Texas Department of Public Safety: Fee Schedule and Application Information
- Texas Department of Public Safety: Form CUP-101, Dispensing Organization Application (2026)
- 37 Tex. Admin. Code § 12.14: Application and Licensing Fees (via Cornell LII)
- Texas Legislature: House Bill 46, enrolled version (2025)
- Senate Research Center: Bill Analysis, H.B. 46 (2025)
- Texas Legislature: House Bill 1325, hemp production (2019)
- Texas Department of State Health Services: Consumable Hemp Program (2026)
- Texas Tribune: Texas medical pot industry sprouts new businesses, patients (2026)
- Texas Tribune: Delta-8 among products banned as Texas THC suit continues (2026)
- Spectrum News: Texas agency cracks down on synthetic THC compounds (2026)
- Texas Policy Research: Abbott’s Hemp Executive Order (2025)
- CRAFT (hemp trade group, backup source): Texas Hemp Rules 2026 Advisory (2026)
- Texas Standard: Appeals court sides with Paxton in striking down two marijuana decriminalization ordinances (2025)
- Texas Politics Project, University of Texas: June 2025 Poll (2025)
- Hemp Law Group (law firm, backup source): Federal Hemp Ban 2026: Where Things Stand (2026)
- Foley Hoag (law firm, backup source): A Temporary Reprieve for Hemp-THC Products (2026)
Last updated: November 2026. Laws and prices change; always check your state or provincial regulator.
