Missoula’s proposed zoning code is set to include new restrictions on where marijuana dispensaries can be located, following concerns about increased youth drug use and the high density of dispensaries in the city.
Because existing dispensaries won’t be affected by the proposal and because a state moratorium has put new businesses on hold, city staff cautioned that the zoning change won’t show immediate results.
Still, the Missoula City Council approved an amendment to the proposed code on Jan. 21, 2026, requiring dispensaries to be 1,000 feet from each other, schools, churches, youth-serving facilities, parks and recreation facilities and substance use treatment centers.
Cassie Tripard, a planning supervisor with the city, said 1,000 feet is equal to about two downtown city blocks. The council also approved a new rule requiring dispensaries to be 250 feet from the nearest residentially zoned parcel.
The city’s code currently requires dispensaries to be 500 feet from each other, schools, child care facilities and churches. Dispensaries are allowed in business, commercial and industrial districts. The updated code would allow dispensaries in mixed-use and industrial zones and prohibit them in residential zones, Tripard said. While the update does not change the types of zones dispensaries are allowed in, it does expand the areas considered mixed-use, she said.
Council Member Gwen Jones said Wednesday she proposed the new buffers because of the slow-moving attrition of dispensaries and concerns about increased youth marijuana use.
In July 2024, Missoula Public Health officials told the council that youth in Missoula County used marijuana at a higher rate than state and national averages and perceived the drug as less risky.
Leah Fitch-Brody, a substance use disorder prevention coordinator with the department, said during the meeting July 8 that Missoula’s high concentration of dispensaries is concerning because studies have found that youth who live near dispensaries tend to use more marijuana.
At one time, the city had close to 60 dispensaries, Jones said Wednesday. While that number is now around 50, attrition has been a “slow game,” she said.
Montana’s regulated marijuana market grew modestly between 2022 and 2025, but adult-use cannabis sales surged while medical marijuana sales collapsed. Four years of sales have generated $216 million in cannabis tax revenue.
“Absolutely, these businesses can be here, but where they are is pretty crucial, and we can start drawing some lines,” Jones said.
After recreational marijuana was approved by voters in 2020, there was concern about the over-concentration of dispensaries in Missoula, especially in certain areas of town, Tripard told Montana Free Press last month.
“That’s really where the idea to just kind of space them out came from, rather than other cities that had tried a hard cap on license numbers,” she said. “It was our opinion that we didn’t have good market data or really any market data to justify a cap.”
State law requires dispensaries to be located 500 feet from schools, child care facilities, and churches on the same street, measured from the center of the nearest entrance.
In November 2021, the Missoula City Council passed an ordinance requiring 500 feet between dispensaries, measured from parcel line to parcel line.
“Of course, most businesses got in before that regulation, so you haven’t seen that spacing really occur,” Tripard said. “That will happen over time.”
In January 2022, many existing medical marijuana dispensaries expanded to include recreational sales. They were grandfathered in, meaning they did not have to follow the new buffer rules, Tripard said.
While the city does not have an updated map of dispensaries and current buffers, several downtown and along West Broadway are likely not meeting the requirements.
Following the public health presentation in July 2024, the council set a two-year moratorium on business licenses for recreational dispensaries, including new locations for existing businesses. Jones said at the time the city was looking to “hit pause” and make changes during code reform. That restriction sunsets in August 2026.
A statewide moratorium on new marijuana licenses is in place until June 30, 2027. Outlined in Senate Bill 27, the moratorium allows existing businesses to move but does not allow additional locations.
Pepper Petersen, president and CEO of the Montana Cannabis Guild, told lawmakers in January 2025 that “business moved faster than regulation,” and the moratorium is necessary to allow counties and cities time to implement zoning restrictions or other policies.
Current dispensary regulations vary among Montana’s largest cities.
Billings does not allow recreational marijuana dispensaries in the city limits and caps medical marijuana dispensaries at eight. Bozeman’s newly approved unified development code generally adheres to the state’s 500-foot rule from schools, daycares and churches. Great Falls limits dispensaries to industrial zones. In Helena, along with the 500-foot buffer from schools and churches, dispensaries are required to be 500 feet from any city public building, facility or park.
Several Missoula City Council members spoke in favor of increased buffers to eventually reduce the number of dispensaries.
“I do think that people who want to get it legally, there are plenty of places in town to do that and enough for the market to be competitive,” said Council Member Amber Sherrill. “This is just something that we’ve been watching because there weren’t sideboards put on it, trying to figure out how we can do it, and this is a good opportunity.”
This story was originally published by Montana Free Press at montanafreepress.org.
