Applications open for more medical cannabis dispensaries in Texas

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The Texas public safety department is starting a business license application process to add more medical cannabis dispensaries to the state’s limited MMJ program.

The state’s Department of Public Safety said Monday the business license application window will remain open until April 28, according to the Dallas Morning News.

The agency has not said how many licenses it will approve, only that the decision on the timing for adding licenses would not be made until this summer.

Only three MMJ dispensaries, all in central Texas, have been licensed in Texas in the past three years.

In 2021, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law legislation to slightly expand the state’s restrictive MMJ market under the Compassionate Use Program to make medical marijuana available to additional patients and allow for marginally more THC in regulated cannabis products.

The new law permitted the use of low-THC marijuana for patients with post-traumatic stress disorder as well as any form of cancer, instead of only terminal cancer – adding to a short list of medical conditions that can warrant a cannabis authorization in Texas.