Is weed legal in Texas?

Recreational status

Recreational cannabis is not legal in Texas. (Texas H.B. 6 (2023), Section 16: Health and Safety Code Section 481.121(b), Offense: Possession of Marihuana (penalties by amount))

Health and Safety Code 481.121(b), as amended by H.B. 6 (2023), makes possessing marihuana a criminal offense at every quantity: a Class B misdemeanor at two ounces or less, rising through Class A misdemeanor, state jail felony, and three degrees of felony as the amount increases. No registered source creates an adult-use exception.

Texas wrote its possession offense as a ladder of amounts with no lawful bottom rung, so even the smallest quantity is a criminal charge rather than a ticket. Being over 21 does nothing for you on that ladder.

Medical status

A medical cannabis program runs in Texas, and it reaches only low-THC or CBD preparations. (Texas H.B. 3703 (2019): An Act Relating to the Prescription of Low-THC Cannabis for Medical Use (Compassionate-Use Act amendments))

The Compassionate Use Act, as amended by H.B. 3703 (2019), lets a specially qualified, registered physician prescribe 'low-THC cannabis' -- capped at not more than 0.5 percent tetrahydrocannabinols by weight (the 2019 act removed a prior 10-percent cannabidiol floor) -- to a permanent Texas resident diagnosed with epilepsy, a seizure disorder, multiple sclerosis, spasticity, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, autism, terminal cancer, or an incurable neurodegenerative disease. Dispensing is through department-licensed dispensing organizations per the Compassionate Use Registry of Texas; there is no broader qualifying-condition list and no higher-THC product.

A physician on the state's registry writes you a prescription and a licensed dispensing organization fills it, with your entry in the Compassionate Use Registry of Texas standing in for a card. Permanent Texas residency is part of qualifying, and nothing the program dispenses goes above half a percent THC by weight.

Hemp-derived products

Texas permits the sale of hemp-derived products and limits which ones. (25 Tex. Admin. Code Section 300.701: Restriction on Sale to Minors (Consumable Hemp Products))

25 Tex. Admin. Code 300.701 bars delivering, selling, or offering to sell a consumable hemp product to a minor and requires age verification by valid photo identification before completing a sale. Section 300.101(26) defines 'Minor' as a person under 21 years of age, so the restriction is a 21-and-older sales floor plus licensing (Subchapters B and E) rather than a ban on any product form; Section 300.101(20) caps 'Hemp' itself at 0.3 percent delta-9 THC by dry weight, which is what makes a compliant consumable hemp product lawful to sell at all.

The Department of State Health Services counts anyone under 21 as a minor here, so a licensed seller checks a valid photo ID before the sale goes through. Three-tenths of one percent delta-9 THC by dry weight is the line the definition draws, and a product above it is not hemp at all.

Home cultivation

Texas allows nobody to grow cannabis at home. (Texas H.B. 6 (2023), Section 16: Health and Safety Code Section 481.121(b), Offense: Possession of Marihuana (penalties by amount))

This section's penalty tiers apply to 'the amount of marihuana possessed' without distinguishing how the marihuana was obtained; the statute does not use the word 'cultivate' or 'grow,' but no registered source for Texas authorizes growing marihuana for personal, medical, or any other use, and no exception or lower threshold exists for a home-grown plant.

Texas never needed a separate rule against growing, because the possession tiers reach whatever you are holding regardless of where it came from. A prescription under the Compassionate Use Program covers what a licensed dispensing organization hands you, not a plant you raised yourself.

Possession and purchase limits

The possession limit, as Texas states it: No amount is lawfully possessed. Possessing two ounces or less of marihuana is a Class B misdemeanor; more than two but not more than four ounces is a Class A misdemeanor; more than four ounces but not more than five pounds is a state jail felony; more than five but not more than fifty pounds is a felony of the third degree; more than fifty but not more than 2,000 pounds is a felony of the second degree; and more than 2,000 pounds is a felony of the first degree. (Texas H.B. 6 (2023), Section 16: Health and Safety Code Section 481.121(b), Offense: Possession of Marihuana (penalties by amount))

On buying, Texas states: No purchase quantity is stated. Texas has no lawful retail marihuana purchase channel; the possession-penalty tiers in this statute apply regardless of how the marihuana was obtained and set no separate purchase amount. (Texas H.B. 6 (2023), Section 16: Health and Safety Code Section 481.121(b), Offense: Possession of Marihuana (penalties by amount))

Read those figures as penalty steps rather than as an allowance, because every one of them describes an offense and the lowest is still a misdemeanor. No matching purchase figure exists, because the statute is written about what you hold and not about what a counter may hand over.

Minimum age

There is no recreational channel in Texas, so no recreational age applies. (Texas H.B. 6 (2023), Section 16: Health and Safety Code Section 481.121(b), Offense: Possession of Marihuana (penalties by amount))

Null because Texas has no adult-use channel; see adult_use_status.

Texas sets no minimum age for a patient. (Texas H.B. 3703 (2019): An Act Relating to the Prescription of Low-THC Cannabis for Medical Use (Compassionate-Use Act amendments))

The Compassionate Use Act sets no age for the patient: eligibility turns on Texas residency, a qualifying diagnosis, and a physician's certification, and no provision of this act states a minimum patient age or a caregiver-control condition for a minor patient.

Eligibility under the Compassionate Use Act turns on Texas residency, a qualifying diagnosis and a physician's certification, and the act prints no patient age anywhere in it. Silence there is not an open door: the prescription and the registry entry still gate everything the program dispenses.

Where you can buy

You can buy lawfully from a licensed medical dispensary and a retailer of hemp-derived or CBD products. (Compassionate Use Program: Overview)

DPS 'manages the licensing of organizations that dispense low-THC cannabis to patients in the Compassionate Use Registry of Texas' -- a medical dispensary channel. 25 Tex. Admin. Code 300.701 (the register's other source for this question) requires age verification before completing a sale of a consumable hemp product, which presupposes a lawful retail sale to a non-minor purchaser -- a hemp-cbd-retailer channel. Health and Safety Code 481.121(b) establishes no adult-use channel: marihuana possession is a criminal offense at every quantity.

The dispensing organizations are licensed by the Department of Public Safety and will not serve you without a prescription entered in the registry. A hemp shop is a different kind of store under a different agency's rules, and what it sells is not what the Compassionate Use Program dispenses.

The Texas store list names every licensed location this site holds a record for.

Federal law applies here too, and it is not the same. Read what federal law says about weed.