Valencia County, NM Cannabis Regulations: Buffer Zones (2026)

19(A) sets the siting restriction for the county's recreational and medical cannabis subchapter, adopted by Ordinance 22-01 in 2022: an establishment, consumption area, or courier cannot locate within 300 feet of a school, daycare center, church, or religious assembly. The measurement runs the shortest direct line between the actual property lines of the two uses, not around roads or buildings. 09, applies the same 300-foot standard to cannabis establishments and integrated microbusinesses, measured only from a school or daycare center already in existence when the license issued; the two sections coexist because the county layered its 2022 recreational rules on top of the 2021 medical program rather than replacing it.

19 zones the industry by use: testing and research labs are permitted in Community Commercial (C-2) and conditional in Neighborhood Commercial (C-1); manufacturers are permitted in the I-1, I-2, and I-3 industrial districts and conditional in C-2; producers are permitted in I-1 and I-2; outdoor-only producer microbusinesses are permitted in Rural Residential (RR), Agricultural Preservation (AP), and Outland (OD) districts; and retailers are permitted in C-1 or C-2. Vertically integrated establishments and integrated microbusinesses must locate where every licensed activity they run is itself a permitted or conditionally approved use. 21.