Gulfport, MS Cannabis Regulations: Buffer Zones (2026)

The zoning ordinance's definitions section folds every category of medical cannabis business into one term, "medical cannabis establishment," covering cultivation facilities, processing facilities, testing facilities, dispensaries, transportation entities, disposal entities and research facilities, and applies one baseline distance standard to all of them: the main point of entry cannot sit within 1,000 feet of the nearest property line of a school, church or childcare facility. That floor can drop to 500 feet, but only if the establishment gets written approval from the protected school, church or childcare facility itself and separately applies for a waiver with its state licensing agency, the Mississippi Department of Health or Department of Revenue depending on the type of business.

Dispensaries carry an additional spacing rule that has nothing to do with schools or churches: no medical cannabis dispensary can locate within a 1,500-foot radius of another dispensary's main entrance, a rule aimed at preventing clustering rather than protecting a sensitive use. The Chart of Permitted Uses layers a second, narrower distance test on top of the definitions: several cannabis use categories, including disposal and processing facilities, cultivation facilities, and transportation entities, carry a separate line in the use table for sites within 500 feet of a residential use, measured property line to property line, which downgrades the use from allowed-by-right to Planning Commission approval.

The permitted-use table also strips every medical cannabis establishment out of the SmartCode transect zones entirely, marked with the plus-minus symbol meaning T1 through T6 are not available to these uses regardless of the distance calculations.