Cannabis in Texas: lounges, dispensaries & laws
In Texas, medical cannabis is legal. Medical possession: no weight-based patient possession cap in statute. Instead the product itself is limited: under HB 46 (2025) a low-THC cannabis dosage unit may contain no more than 10 mg of tetrahydrocannabinols, and a package/container no more than 1 gram total THC (approved medical inhalation devices may exceed 1 gram). Patients possess only what a registered physician has prescribed through the Compassionate Use Registry of Texas (CURT). Smoking is expressly prohibited; permitted routes are ingestion, absorption, insertion, and — since HB 46 — pulmonary inhalation of aerosol/vapor when a physician finds it medically necessary.
Can you legally consume on site in Texas?
Not permitted
No. Texas law does not authorize licensed on-site or social cannabis consumption of any kind — there is no consumption lounge license, cannabis cafe license, or hospitality endorsement anywhere in the Health and Safety Code or Occupations Code. The Compassionate Use Program is prescription-and-dispensary only (Fluent, Texas Original, and Goodblend are the long-standing licensees, with HB 46 directing DPS to expand to 15 total licenses); TCUP dispensing organizations dispense product and nothing more, and HB 46's enrolled text contains no on-site consumption provision at all. There is no local-option path either — Texas cities cannot license cannabis venues, and even the municipal decriminalization ordinances passed in Austin, Dallas, San Marcos, Denton, Elgin, Bastrop, Lockhart and others only limit local police enforcement of low-level possession; the Attorney General has sued several of these cities over them. Any Texas business advertising itself as a 'cannabis lounge,' 'THCA lounge,' or 'hemp bar' is operating on hemp-derived cannabinoid products under the DSHS Consumable Hemp Program, not under any cannabis license, and that space is legally unsettled and actively being tightened by regulators.
Texas cannabis laws at a glance
- Legal status
- CBD / Low-THC Only
- Medical since
- 2015
- Medical possession
- No weight-based patient possession cap in statute. Instead the product itself is limited: under HB 46 (2025) a low-THC cannabis dosage unit may contain no more than 10 mg of tetrahydrocannabinols, and a package/container no more than 1 gram total THC (approved medical inhalation devices may exceed 1 gram). Patients possess only what a registered physician has prescribed through the Compassionate Use Registry of Texas (CURT). Smoking is expressly prohibited; permitted routes are ingestion, absorption, insertion, and — since HB 46 — pulmonary inhalation of aerosol/vapor when a physician finds it medically necessary.
- Purchase limit
- Set by the prescribing physician's entry in CURT rather than by a flat statutory cap. Product-level caps apply: 10 mg THC per dosage unit and 1 gram total THC per package. Exact refill/supply-period rules not confirmed — verify with Texas DPS Compassionate Use Program.
- Home cultivation
- Prohibited outright. Texas allows no home cultivation for any purpose — not for adult use, and not for Compassionate Use Program patients. Cultivation is charged under the marijuana possession/delivery schedule by weight, so even a few plants can be a felony.
- Public consumption
- There is no 'public consumption' infraction because there is no legal adult-use market — consuming cannabis in public means possessing it in public, which is a criminal offense. Possession of 2 oz or less is a Class B misdemeanor (up to 180 days jail, $2,000 fine); 2-4 oz is a Class A misdemeanor (up to 1 year, $4,000); over 4 oz is a felony. Concentrates and edibles are charged under the harsher Penalty Group 2 schedule, where under 1 gram of THC concentrate is a state jail felony (180 days to 2 years). Medical patients may not smoke their product anywhere, public or private, under Occupations Code Ch. 169.
- Minimum age (medical)
- The Compassionate Use Act was written around pediatric epilepsy and does not impose a hard minimum patient age; minors can qualify with a legal guardian handling the prescription. Exact current age/guardian mechanics not confirmed from a primary source — verify with Texas DPS.
- Out-of-state medical cards
- No. Texas does not recognize out-of-state medical marijuana cards or recommendations. Access requires a prescription entered by a Texas-registered physician in the Compassionate Use Registry of Texas, so visiting patients cannot legally purchase or possess medical cannabis in Texas. Verify with Texas DPS if a patient's situation is borderline.
- Qualifying conditions
- Meaningfully broadened by HB 46 (effective Sept. 1, 2025). Qualifying conditions now include epilepsy and other seizure disorders, multiple sclerosis, spasticity, ALS, autism, cancer, incurable neurodegenerative disease, PTSD, chronic pain, traumatic brain injury, Crohn's disease and inflammatory bowel disease, terminal illness, and conditions being treated with hospice or palliative care. The chronic pain addition is the big one — MPP now counts Texas as the 40th state with a comprehensive medical cannabis program, though it remains one of the most restrictive.
No listings in Texas yet
We have not verified any cannabis businesses in Texas so far. If you run a lounge, dispensary or shop here, you can put your city on the map.
Cities in Texas
Visiting Texas
Treat Texas as a prohibition state, because for a visitor it is one: there are no adult-use dispensaries, no reciprocity for your home-state medical card, and no licensed lounge, cafe, or hospitality venue anywhere in the state — so there is realistically nowhere a tourist can legally consume actual marijuana, including a hotel room. What you will see everywhere are smoke shops and 'hemp bars' selling hemp-derived THC (delta-8, delta-9 gummies, THCA flower) under the DSHS Consumable Hemp Program; those are 21+ since October 2025, the product must stay at or under 0.3% delta-9 THC, and DSHS adopted tighter manufacture/retail rules effective March 31, 2026, so the category is legal-but-shrinking and enforcement varies by county. Do not assume Austin's or Dallas's local decriminalization ordinances protect you — they only bind city police, they are under active litigation from the Attorney General, and state troopers, sheriff's deputies, and campus and airport police are not bound by them at all; a vape cart or edible is charged as a concentrate felony in Texas even when the same amount of flower would be a misdemeanor.
What changed recently
2025 was Texas's most consequential cannabis year in a decade. HB 46 (89th Legislature) was signed by Gov. Abbott on June 20, 2025 and took effect Sept. 1, 2025, adding chronic pain, PTSD, TBI, Crohn's/IBD and terminal/palliative conditions to the Compassionate Use Program, authorizing non-smoked pulmonary inhalation products, replacing the old 1% THC-by-weight cap with per-dose (10 mg) and per-package (1 gram total THC) limits, and directing DPS to expand from 3 to 15 dispensing organizations with satellite locations — at least 9 additional licenses by Dec. 1, 2025 and 3 more by April 1, 2026, though the DPS licensed-dispensary page still lists only the three original licensees, so the rollout appears to be running behind. Separately, SB 3 would have banned consumable hemp THC statewide; it passed both chambers but Abbott vetoed it in June 2025 and instead issued Executive Order GA-56 on Sept. 10, 2025 directing agencies to regulate hemp for 21+ adults. DSHS followed with emergency rules effective Oct. 2, 2025 imposing the 21+ age limit and ID checks, then adopted permanent manufacture/distribution/retail rules published in the March 20, 2026 Texas Register with an effective date of March 31, 2026. Adult-use legalization bills (HB 1208, SB 335, HB 1763) and decriminalization bill HB 3242 all died without hearings. The Texas Legislature meets biennially, so the next regular session is 2027 — no statutory change is expected before then, and the live action through the rest of 2026 is DSHS hemp rulemaking, DPS license issuance, and the Attorney General's suits against municipal decriminalization ordinances.
Texas cannabis questions
Is cannabis legal in Texas?
Medical cannabis is legal as of 2026-07-19.
Can you smoke in public in Texas?
There is no 'public consumption' infraction because there is no legal adult-use market — consuming cannabis in public means possessing it in public, which is a criminal offense. Possession of 2 oz or less is a Class B misdemeanor (up to 180 days jail, $2,000 fine); 2-4 oz is a Class A misdemeanor (up to 1 year, $4,000); over 4 oz is a felony. Concentrates and edibles are charged under the harsher Penalty Group 2 schedule, where under 1 gram of THC concentrate is a state jail felony (180 days to 2 years). Medical patients may not smoke their product anywhere, public or private, under Occupations Code Ch. 169.
Are there cannabis lounges in Texas?
No. Texas law does not authorize licensed on-site or social cannabis consumption of any kind — there is no consumption lounge license, cannabis cafe license, or hospitality endorsement anywhere in the Health and Safety Code or Occupations Code. The Compassionate Use Program is prescription-and-dispensary only (Fluent, Texas Original, and Goodblend are the long-standing licensees, with HB 46 directing DPS to expand to 15 total licenses); TCUP dispensing organizations dispense product and nothing more, and HB 46's enrolled text contains no on-site consumption provision at all. There is no local-option path either — Texas cities cannot license cannabis venues, and even the municipal decriminalization ordinances passed in Austin, Dallas, San Marcos, Denton, Elgin, Bastrop, Lockhart and others only limit local police enforcement of low-level possession; the Attorney General has sued several of these cities over them. Any Texas business advertising itself as a 'cannabis lounge,' 'THCA lounge,' or 'hemp bar' is operating on hemp-derived cannabinoid products under the DSHS Consumable Hemp Program, not under any cannabis license, and that space is legally unsettled and actively being tightened by regulators.
Can you grow cannabis at home in Texas?
Prohibited outright. Texas allows no home cultivation for any purpose — not for adult use, and not for Compassionate Use Program patients. Cultivation is charged under the marijuana possession/delivery schedule by weight, so even a few plants can be a felony.
Does Texas accept out-of-state medical marijuana cards?
No. Texas does not recognize out-of-state medical marijuana cards or recommendations. Access requires a prescription entered by a Texas-registered physician in the Compassionate Use Registry of Texas, so visiting patients cannot legally purchase or possess medical cannabis in Texas. Verify with Texas DPS if a patient's situation is borderline.