Everett, MA Cannabis Regulations: Buffer Zones (2026)

Everett, Middlesex County, Massachusetts allows marijuana only through Section 31 of its Zoning Ordinance, Registered Medical Marijuana Dispensaries (Facilities). This page covers the City of Everett in Massachusetts, not Everett, Washington. Section 31.A.3 prohibits the operation of any marijuana establishment, as defined in M.G.L. c. 94G, § 1, in all zoning districts of the city, and carves out only marijuana for medical purposes licensed under Chapter 369 of the Acts of 2012. A dispensary needs a special permit from the planning board, which is the special permit granting authority, and the site must be expressly designated in the certificate of registration issued by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.

The buffer rules sit in the general requirements and conditions in Section 31.C.8. No facility can be located within 500 feet of a residential zoning district. No facility can be located within 1,000 feet of any school attended by children under the age of 18, any licensed child care facility, any drug or alcohol rehabilitation facility, any correctional facility, half-way house or similar facility, or any other registered marijuana dispensary. No facility can be located within 500 feet of any playground, public athletic field, park, multi-use path or other recreational facility. Each distance is measured in a straight line from the nearest point of the property line of the protected use or structure to the nearest point of the property line of the facility.

The planning board can reduce the required distance by up to 25% if it determines the facility would otherwise be effectively prohibited within the city, or if the applicant demonstrates adequate security measures to prevent diversion of marijuana to minors or to persons who are not qualifying patients under 105 CMR 725. Other printed conditions sit alongside the buffers: no facility inside a building containing residential units, including hotels, motels and dormitories, or inside a movable or mobile structure; a dispensary-only facility capped at 2,500 square feet of gross floor area; a cultivation or processing facility capped at 25,000 square feet; and hours set by the board but never between 9:00PM and 8:00AM. Granting the permit takes a four-fifths vote.