Texas has no recreational cannabis program, so Austin cannot create a social-equity license. The narrow Compassionate Use Program licenses three statewide dispensing organizations on competitive merit, with no equity preference for prior-conviction, minority, or low-income applicants.
Texas Health & Safety Code Chapter 481 keeps marijuana a Schedule I controlled substance, and the Compassionate Use Program (CUP) under H&S Code Chapter 487, administered by the Texas Department of Public Safety, licenses only three vertically integrated dispensing organizations to serve registered patients with low-THC products. CUP applications use a competitive merit scoring with no social-equity weighting for race, prior conviction, or geography. Because state law preempts the field, Austin City Council has no home-rule authority to issue a parallel municipal cannabis license. Austin voters did adopt Proposition A in 2022 deprioritizing low-level marijuana enforcement, but the measure does not create or authorize any licensing pathway for retail cannabis sales.
Not applicable to licensing. Operating any unlicensed cannabis sales remains a felony under TX H&S Code Section 481.120, with penalties scaling from state-jail felony to first-degree felony based on quantity and concentrate involvement.
Austin, TX
Texas prohibits personal cannabis cultivation entirely. Austin cannot authorize home grows under home-rule authority while state law treats marijuana possess...
Austin, TX
Austin has no recreational cannabis retail because Texas prohibits it. Hemp-derived CBD and consumable-hemp retailers operate under Texas Agriculture Code Ch...
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