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Fort Worth wants clarity on regulating medical cannabis dispensaries and satellite locations after a dispensary applied for a permit to operate off Camp Bowie.
State lawmakers last year expanded the state’s Compassionate Use program that allows authorized businesses to sell physician-prescribed products made with marijuana for numerous ailments.
Texas Original was one of three dispensaries permitted to operate statewide before the Legislature’s new law required the licensure of 12 more by early 2026. The company plans to open its second Fort Worth store at 2812 Horne St. in a modest storefront once occupied by a 7-Eleven and adjacent to the recently opened Danny’s Greek Cafe.
The Bastrop-based company can operate the store in the commercial district under the city’s current ordinance that treats satellites as pharmacies.
But Texas Original’s application, filed late last year, raised concern among nearby businesses and prompted city officials to review its land-use ordinances to manage any future medical cannabis applications.
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“My question is, is there anything we can do?” City Council member Alan Blaylock said during a briefing by staff members March 10. “I’m not specifying anything. I just want to know what options are available, if any at all.”
Texas law bars local governments from any action that “prohibits the cultivation, production, storage, dispensing, or possession of low-THC (medically prescribed) cannabis” products. It mandates that satellites be at least 1,000 feet from a school or day care. But less clear — and what city staffers are reviewing — is whether local governments can use zoning and other tools to regulate location.
“Is there any way to put some guidelines around it, boundaries around it?” Blaylock asked during the briefing, noting the state law does not cap the number of satellites that can open in an area. Businesses around the Horne Street location have raised questions about what satellites can sell.
Following publication of this story, the city attorney’s office on March 23, through spokesperson Natalie Foster, told the report that based on its legal review, “while the city cannot prohibit uses authorized by the (state law), the city may regulate through zoning the districts in which certain uses related to the (state law) are allowed.”
Foster said that pertains to “all (land) uses” covered by the state law.
The Texas Compassionate Use Act allows the dispensaries and their satellites to sell medically prescribed, non-smokeable products made of low-THC cannabis. Tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, is the psychoactive ingredient that produces a high.
THC-infused products include gummies, tinctures, beverages, candies and topicals. Texas allows physicians registered in the program to prescribe these products for more than 100 ailments, including intractable epilepsy, PTSD, Crohn’s disease, cancer, chronic pain, multiple sclerosis and a terminal illness.
Texas Original’s chief executive Nico Richardson declined a request for an interview through a spokesperson.
“We’re expanding access to medical cannabis with plans for a new full-time location in Fort Worth, and we look forward to sharing more details soon,” Richardson said in an emailed statement. He added, “As fellow Texans, we remain committed to improving access to high-quality medicine across the state.” He did not provide responses to emailed questions.
Texas Original’s application to operate on Horne Street drew questions from board members at Camp Bowie District Inc., formed 25 years ago to help revitalize the strip.
Lydia Guajardo Rickard, the nonprofit’s executive director, said the biggest question was about what the store could sell.
“We did not question the pharmacy side of the business,” Rickard said. But “the board did not want another CBD store, or for it to turn into a vape store.”
State law permits dispensaries’ satellites to sell medically prescribed medical cannabis products, acting as “patient pickup” locations.
The new law — passed 10 years after the Legislature first authorized the limited licensure to sell prescribed treatments for intractable epilepsy — doesn’t cap the number of consumer pickup locations, called “satellites,” that dispensaries can open.
But the new law requires each dispensary, including the three existing ones, to build one satellite in each of 11 “public health districts” statewide before opening another one in a district where it already has one. Tarrant County is in the state’s 19-county third district.
The three existing dispensaries’ satellites are primarily in Texas’ large metro areas. Locations that existed or were authorized prior to passage of last year’s bill are grandfathered in under previous law.
On March 23, following the Report’s original publication of this story, officials with the Texas Department of Public Safety, which administers the Compassionate Use program, emailed responses to several questions from the Report. On the question of whether cities can use zoning and other tools to regulate location, a DPS spokesperson referred to language in the state law that says local governments can’t prohibit such businesses from locating in the city.
The DPS has conditionally approved nine of the 12 new dispensaries and is expected to approve the final three by April 1, the deadline required by the new state statute.
Rickard said Texas Original didn’t reach out to Camp Bowie District prior to making its application.
“It would have been helpful if the applicant had made any effort to meet with us as a group to help us understand the business and its operations,” Rickard said. “But that did not happen. We welcome opportunities to meet with business operators to help them be successful and to share vision and planning with newcomers.”
She said she has heard a “handful of concerns” from the business community.
“There is an unknown here,” she said. “We don’t fully understand the business model and the operations and security measures taken.”
Stephanie Scott-Sims, the city’s planning manager, said in an interview the staff expects to complete its review in May and then update the City Council’s Infrastructure and Growth Committee, which heard the March 10 presentation.
After May, any proposed changes may need to be directed through the Fort Worth Zoning Commission before moving on to the full council, she said.
The staff’s preliminary recommendation, made March 10, is to continue to treat satellite locations as pharmacies, allowed in commercial districts such as the one on Horne Street.
The staff, however, recommends the City Council split off the cultivation, production, packaging and distribution parts of the low-TCH businesses into a classification allowed in industrial districts — zoned I, J and K. Such facilities tend to be much larger than the smaller satellite pickup locations. Texas Original, for one, operates a cultivation and production facility in central Texas.
City Council member Michael Crain, whose west side district includes the Horne Street area, said the city must find a balance between access to prescribed products and neighborhoods’ concerns.
“If there’s a legitimate use, I want people to get whatever medical attention they need,” he said. “But I also think we need to balance that out with neighborhood needs. It’s just common sense.”
Editor’s note: This story was updated March 27, 2026, to include comments from the city attorney’s office and the Texas Department of Public Safety.
Scott Nishimura is senior editor for local government accountability and a Fort Worth City Hall reporter at the Fort Worth Report. Reach him at scott.nishimura@fortworthreport.org.
News decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
Cannabis accessibility timeline
Texans’ access to medicinal marijuana changed significantly since the Legislature passed its first bill more than 10 years ago.
June 2015: Gov. Greg Abbott signs bill establishing up to three dispensaries statewide for sale of products to treat intractable epilepsy.
June 2019: Texas expands list of qualifying medical conditions to more than 100 and drops requirement for two consulting physicians to one.
June 2021: Legislature adds PTSD and cancer to list.
June 2025: Abbott signs a bill increasing the number of authorized dispensaries statewide to 15 from three. It requires dispensaries to open one satellite location in each of 11 public health districts statewide before opening a second in a district where they already have a location.
Source: Texas Original
Prescription pickup
Texas has three licensed dispensaries for medically-prescribed products made of low-THC cannabis: Texas Original, Goodblend and Fluent Cannabis.
Texas Original
Texas Original has 18 pickup locations statewide, with five in North Texas, two in Austin, two in the San Antonio-New Braunfels area, and five in Houston. The company has one store in Fort Worth, another in Hurst, and plans one at 2812 Horne St. in west Fort Worth.
Tarrant County pickup locations:
Goodblend
Goodblend has three satellite locations in North Texas, including ones in Fort Worth and Colleyville; two in Houston; two in Austin, and one in San Antonio.
Tarrant County pickup locations:
Fluent Cannabis
Fluent Cannabis has two pickup locations — one in Houston and another in Schulenberg — and none elsewhere in the state.
Sources: Texas Original, Goodblend and Fluent Cannabis
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by Scott Nishimura, Fort Worth Report
March 27, 2026
Scott Nishimura is a longtime Fort Worth journalist, serving in roles as a reporter and editor for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Fort Worth Business Press, and Fort Worth, Fort Worth Inc. and 360 West… More by Scott Nishimura
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