The Texas Department of Public Safety announced on January 16 that they will be accepting new applicants for Compassionate Use Program dispensary (CUP) licensing. Texas's Compassionate Use Program allows for certain physicians to prescribe small amounts of THC to medical marijuana patients for medical usage.
As of January 2023, there were 45,440 patients registered in the Texas's Compassionate Use Program. This number has been growing steadily, up more than double from January 2022's total of 18,047. Roughly 2,000 new patients sign up for the CUP every month. You can see the chart below to see a breakdown of the increase in the amount of patients month by month for 2022. <img title="Texas DPS Chart 2022" src="https://res.cloudinary.com/timj111/image/upload/v1678464307/articles/a07gtp0ik2a68erirn0o.png" alt="Texas DPS Chart 2022" width="350" height="213" />
Medical marijuana is available to Texas patients who suffer from:
<ul>
<li>Epilepsy&nbsp;</li>
<li>Seizure disorders&nbsp;</li>
<li>Multiple sclerosis&nbsp;</li>
<li>Spasticity&nbsp;</li>
<li>Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis&nbsp;</li>
<li>Autism&nbsp;</li>
<li>Terminal cancer&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="https://texreg.sos.state.tx.us/public/readtac$ext.TacPage?sl=R&amp;app=9&amp;p_dir=&amp;p_rloc=&amp;p_tloc=&amp;p_ploc=&amp;pg=1&amp;p_tac=&amp;ti=25&amp;pt=1&amp;ch=1&amp;rl=61">An incurable neurodegenerative disease</a>&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
If you're suffering from one of these conditions and want to become a registered medical marijuana patient, you have to first meet with a physician who is registered with the Texas Department of Public Safety. As of January 2023, there were 681 physicians in Texas who could prescribe a patient medical marijuana. This is a 24% increase from last January's total of 517 registered physicians. Check out the chart below to see the breakdown of physician count month by month for 2022. <img title="2022 CUP physician count Texas DPS" src="https://res.cloudinary.com/timj111/image/upload/v1678465480/articles/r7tt3vrefiajhgy8oubv.png" alt="2022 CUP physician count Texas DPS" width="350" height="211" />
At the moment, there are currently only 3 licensed medical marijuana dispensaries in Texas, so this is exciting news for those eager to get into the industry.&nbsp;
<h2 id="0">Application Window For New Licenses Closes April 28</h2>
If you're looking to apply for a CUP dispensing license, your time is running out. For a period of 4 years, applications had not been accepted, but on January 16, the Texas Department of Public Safety announced that they will be once again accepting applications for new CUP dispensing organization licenses. Texas' DPS said that they will provide an announcement detailing the process for application acceptance and the subsequent approval process at a later date. They also made clear that those who have previously applied for a CUP dispensing organization license will have their license fee waived. It wasn't specified how many licenses would be approved, but they made it clear that CUP dispensing organization licensing applications close on April 28 at 5 PM CT.