MANCHACA, Texas — When California rings in the new year with the sale of recreational pot for the first time, Texas will be tiptoeing into its own marijuana milestone: a medical cannabis program so restrictive that doubts swirl over who will even use it.

Among the concerns are the license fees to grow marijuana in Texas — which are the highest in the U.S., at nearly $500,000 — and that the program is rolling out with just eight participating doctors in a state of 27 million people. And, like other states, access is limited to a small pool of patients who have been diagnosed with intractable epilepsy and tried at least two other treatments first.

Texas is similar to more than a dozen states that restrict access to a low-THC cannabis oil. However, Texas — which is 800 miles (1,300 kilometers) wide — licensed just three dispensaries, none of which are in the western half of the state or in fast-growing cities along the border with Mexico. And the Republican who won over skeptical conservatives to pass her law in 2015 is noncommittal about expanding the program.

Texas has also placed tighter control on marijuana growers. The licensing fee is 80 times more than originally recommended. The Texas Department of Public Safety once proposed a fee as high as $1.3 million to help offset the costs of state troopers patrolling the dispensaries, although that recommendation was later dropped.

Read more at The Cannabist