Texas has no recreational cannabis program, so Houston cannot create a social-equity license. The narrow Compassionate Use Program (CUP) licenses three statewide dispensing organizations on a competitive merit basis, with no equity preference for prior-conviction, minority, or low-income applicants.
Texas Health and Safety Code Chapter 481 keeps marijuana a Schedule I controlled substance, and the Compassionate Use Program 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, Houston City Council has no home-rule authority to issue a parallel municipal cannabis license. Houston voters have not adopted a decriminalization charter amendment comparable to Austin Prop A or Dallas Prop R, so even local enforcement-priority equity tools are absent.
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.
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