Marin County, CA Cannabis Regulations: Buffer Zones (2026)

061, adopted by Ordinance No. 3678 in 2017, restricts where a Medicinal Cannabis Delivery-Only Retailer (MCDORe) may locate in unincorporated Marin County. An MCDORe, a retailer closed to the public that sells exclusively by delivery, may only operate in the C1, CP, AP, OP, and IP coastal and non-coastal zoning districts. 768(c): a retailer cannot locate within a 600-foot radius of a school, day care center, or youth center, mirroring the state buffer required by Business and Professions Code Section 26054, and it separately cannot locate within a 600-foot radius of a playground, a buffer the county added on its own authority beyond what state law requires.

These distance and zoning rules apply only to uses that already existed when the license was issued. 071 stating the county's intent to maintain at least two but no more than four licenses at any time. Getting one of those licenses is a four-phase process run by the county administrator and Community Development Agency: a background-check prescreening, a 100-point scored application covering business plan, operating plan and public-benefits plan, a site-review pre-submittal meeting, and finally a formal site review before the Board of Supervisors decides at a public hearing.

Applicants must score at least 80 percent to advance past Phase 2, and a lottery breaks ties when more qualified applicants exist than available licenses.