BREAKING: Gov. Abbott Signs TCUP Expansion as Clock Ticks on THC Ban Decision
June 21, 2025 — In a headline-grabbing move that belies the deeper political drama beneath it, Governor Greg Abbott today signed House Bill 46 into law, enacting the most significant expansion of the Texas Compassionate Use Program (TCUP) since its inception. The new law allows physicians to recommend low-THC cannabis for chronic pain, expands access for veterans with PTSD, and marginally increases the allowable THC cap.
But the bill is far from a clean win for medical cannabis advocates—and for many in the broader cannabis community, it may feel like a Trojan Horse.
The Political Trade-Off
Lt. Governor Dan Patrick leveraged HB 46 as a political bargaining chip to strong-arm reluctant House members into voting for Senate Bill 3, the sweeping ban on hemp-derived cannabinoids that passed in the waning days of the session. Patrick made it clear: if lawmakers wanted HB 46, they had to swallow the poison pill of SB 3.
Capitol sources confirm that House lawmakers who had long fought for TCUP expansion were told, bluntly: support the ban, or your patients get nothing.
Now, with HB 46 signed and codified, Patrick has delivered on his part of the deal. But Governor Abbott’s final decision on SB 3 looms large. He has until midnight, Sunday June 22, to sign it, veto it, or let it quietly pass into law without his signature.
HB 46: Expansion, Yes—But Also a Trap
While the expansion of medical access will help a subset of patients, HB 46 also introduces a highly restrictive and monopolistic licensing structure that critics say will entrench the existing TCUP oligopoly and lock out the broader cannabis industry—including hemp operators and legacy entrepreneurs.
Key concerns include:
- No pathway for current hemp licensees or manufacturers to participate in the expanded TCUP system, even if they meet quality and safety standards.
- Arbitrary license caps and undefined “moral character” criteria that will allow the Department of Public Safety to deny applications without meaningful oversight or appeal.
- A closed-loop supply chain that forces vertical integration—limiting the market to those with millions in capital and existing political relationships.
- Out-of-state control of licenses and a strong whiff of insider favoritism. At least one TCUP license is backed by national investors with lobbying ties to both Patrick and powerful Senate committee chairs.
Critics argue that while the bill appears to expand access, its actual effect is to reinforce a cartel structure—one that Patrick and his allies can control through regulatory choke points. The expansion is not broad legalization; it’s restricted commercialization.
“HB 46 is a gilded cage,” said a former legislator who asked not to be named. “It gives the illusion of progress while institutionalizing exclusion.”
The Bigger Battle: SB 3
All of this unfolds in the shadow of SB 3—the bill that would ban all hemp-derived THC products including Delta-8, Delta-9, Delta-10, and THCa, currently sold in legal retail markets across Texas. The legislation threatens to wipe out a multi-billion-dollar
A newly filed lawsuit by Texas retailers and manufacturers in Travis County seeks injunctive and declaratory reliefagainst SB 3, arguing it violates federal preemption, the Takings Clause, and due process protections. That case may delay enforcement, but it doesn’t undo the political damage.
Abbott’s Decision Will Be Defining
Governor Abbott has historically taken a moderate stance on cannabis, expanding TCUP in previous sessions and signaling openness to low-THC therapies. With three recent polls—including one from the Texas Politics Project—showing majority Republican opposition to a ban, pressure is mounting for a veto of SB 3.
If Abbott signs it, prohibition returns under a new name. If he vetoes it, the fight for regulatory reform can begin in earnest. If he does nothing, the bill becomes law by default—and with it, the state’s most draconian anti-cannabis law in a decade.
In that case, HB 46 may go down not as a win for patients—but as the velvet glove hiding the iron fist of prohibition.
Jay Maguire is Political Editor of the Texas Hemp Reporter, Executive Director of the Texas Hemp Federation, and co-founder of CRAFT: the Cannabis Retailers Alliance for Texas. Reach him at maguire@texashempfederation.
