Cannabis policy is moving faster than at any point in recent memory, and the changes are landing in every direction at once. On the positive side, federal medical cannabis just achieved its most significant milestone in fifty years with Schedule III rescheduling, a Medicare CBD pilot is underway, and Texas’ Compassionate Use Program is expanding with new products and new business licenses. These are real wins, hard-fought and long overdue, and they represent meaningful progress for patients, businesses, and the strength of the industry as a whole.
At the same time, a federal deadline is bearing down on the hemp industry that could eliminate most of the products consumers currently buy, and Texas hemp businesses are fighting for survival in the courts on a week-by-week basis, with the next critical ruling due May 14. The rules are changing in multiple lanes simultaneously, and what happens in one lane often affects the others in ways that are not immediately obvious. The following updates will help you track all of it, understand the stakes in each area, and know where your voice and attention are most needed right now.
Medical Cannabis Policy Update
Federal Medical Cannabis
The most significant federal cannabis development in more than fifty years arrived on April 23, 2026, when the DOJ moved state-licensed medical cannabis and FDA-approved cannabis products from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act, following President Trump’s December 2025 Executive Order. This delivers immediate, tangible relief: the crushing 280E tax burden that forced medical cannabis businesses to pay effective federal tax rates of 70 to 80 percent is now lifted for qualifying operators, and long-overdue research barriers begin to come down. According to a joint analysis by Vicente LLP and the Minority Cannabis Business Association, rescheduling and 280E reform are projected to create 55,000 jobs by 2030 and generate up to $5.6 billion in new economic activity. A Medicare CBD pilot program is also underway, covering hemp-derived CBD for certain patients under doctor recommendation at no cost, a first-ever step toward federal health insurance coverage for cannabis-derived products.
And in a development published today by Marijuana Moment, the ATF is proposing to update its gun purchase Form 4473 to reflect medical marijuana’s new federal legal status, removing language that had long warned all cannabis use was unlawful regardless of state law. The revised form would only flag recreational use as federally prohibited, a meaningful acknowledgment that medical patients in licensed state programs now occupy different legal ground.
These are genuinely positive developments, but they fall well short of ending federal prohibition. Non-medical cannabis, recreational products, and unlicensed sales all remain Schedule I, meaning only some cannabis is Schedule III while the rest stays in the same federal category as heroin. As Marijuana Moment reported, state-licensed medical dispensaries also have until June 22 to register with the DEA through the new Medical Marijuana Dispensary Registration Portal to access the new protections.
A broader DEA hearing to consider rescheduling all cannabis begins June 29 and could extend Schedule III status further, but litigation challenges and political headwinds make the outcome uncertain. Vicente LLP’s Federal Cannabis Schedule III Resource Hub is an excellent ongoing reference for businesses navigating compliance and MPP created a Rescheduling FAQ. On May 19, Foley Hoag is hosting a webinar: Cannabis Rescheduling: DOJ, Treasury, and DEA Updates.
State Medical Cannabis
Texas’ Compassionate Use Program is expanding, but not without turbulence. All 12 new licenses awarded through the HB 46 expansion process were issued as conditional licenses pending due diligence review, and a significant scoring error was subsequently identified and corrected by DPS.
As detailed in DPS’s official corrected tabulation release, the department had applied an incorrect mathematical method that failed to weight each of the four statutory scoring exhibits at 25% as its own published criteria required. The correction shifts which businesses actually qualify: three new companies now qualify for conditional licenses and three previously announced winners are displaced, with Bayou City Medical Dispensary, Sawtooth Texas LLC, and Bluebonnet Technologies all moving into the corrected top twelve. Final approvals remain pending for all conditional licensees as due diligence reviews continue.
On the product side, concentrate products are now available through TCUP, and vape devices for patients have been approved by DSHS for medical use following the legislature’s decision to allow inhalation delivery when medically necessary under HB 46. However, DPS has not yet authorized dispensaries to make vape devices available to patients, leaving that final step incomplete. The broader HB 46 changes also expanded qualifying conditions, shifted the THC cap to a 10 mg per dose standard, and authorized pulmonary inhalation of aerosol or vapor when medically necessary.
For a comprehensive overview of the program’s current structure and compliance requirements, Vicente LLP’s TCUP overview is a useful reference.
Hemp Policy Updates
Federal Hemp
The federal hemp picture is dominated by a single looming deadline: November 12, 2026, when the Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act signed by President Trump in November 2025 rewrites the federal definition of hemp. The new law caps finished hemp-derived cannabinoid products at 0.4 milligrams of total THC per container, a threshold so low that a standard 10 mg gummy exceeds it by a factor of twenty-five. The U.S. Hemp Roundtable estimates the change will eliminate approximately 95% of existing hemp-derived products and put over 300,000 jobs at risk, and full-spectrum CBD products that millions of seniors, veterans, and chronic-care patients rely on are caught in the crosshairs alongside intoxicating products. As Marijuana Moment has covered extensively, the FDA has also missed its 90-day deadline to publish a list of naturally occurring cannabinoids, leaving critical questions about the law’s scope unresolved.
President Trump has publicly called on Congress to act and protect full-spectrum CBD access, and several bipartisan bills are in play, including the Hemp Planting Predictability Act which would push the deadline to 2028, and the Cannabinoid Safety and Regulation Act which would replace the ban with a comprehensive regulatory framework. But the House Farm Bill passed in early May without any hemp delay provision, and time is short.
Paige Figi’s Coalition for Access Now and the U.S. Hemp Roundtable Action Center both have active calls to action for consumers and businesses who want to contact Congress. Only legislation can change this deadline, and the window to act is narrowing.
State Hemp
Texas hemp businesses are in the middle of one of the most volatile regulatory stretches the state industry has ever experienced. Following Governor Abbott’s September 2025 executive order, DSHS adopted new rules in March 2026 that effectively banned THCA flower and dramatically raised fees, prompting the Texas Hemp Business Council and Hemp Industry and Farmers of America to file a 330-page lawsuit in Travis County arguing the agencies exceeded their legislative authority. A Temporary Restraining Order followed on April 10, a Temporary Injunction was granted May 1, but the Attorney General’s appeal automatically stayed the injunction, and products were briefly banned again before the 15th Court of Appeals reinstated the injunction through May 14. On that same day, the Texas Supreme Court upheld DSHS’s broad authority to schedule synthetic cannabinoids in the Delta-8 case, casting a shadow over the industry’s litigation prospects going forward.
May 14 is the next critical date, when the appeals court will reconsider the injunction in a ruling that is expected to hold for the duration of a trial currently set for July 27. Whatever the court decides will govern Texas hemp retail for months to years. But even a favorable court outcome may be superseded by what happens federally in November, and by whether Texas chooses to align its Controlled Substances Act with new federal hemp law ahead of the 2027 legislative session.
The Texas Hemp Business Council and Hemp Industry and Farmers of America remain the primary industry voices tracking these developments in real time.