There is no legal adult-use or medical cannabis dispensary anywhere in Wake County or anywhere in North Carolina in 2026. The state has not enacted the Compassionate Care Act or any retail-cannabis statute, so there is no license type for the Wake County UDO to zone. Dispensing or selling marijuana remains a felony under NCGS §90-95.
Because no NC license framework exists, Wake County's UDO has no dispensary use class; any storefront marketing flower or vape products containing more than 0.3% Delta-9 THC would be operating in violation of state criminal law and could not be permitted through Planning. Retail stores selling hemp-derived products (CBD oil, Delta-8, THCA flower) are regulated as general retail under the UDO and existing state Schedule of Controlled Substances exclusions for hemp (NCGS §90-87(13a) and §90-94.5). The 2025 General Assembly amended hemp law (S.L. 2025-181) to add age-21 sale restrictions and packaging rules for consumable hemp products but did not legalize marijuana. The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians' Great Smoky Cannabis dispensary on the Qualla Boundary (Jackson and Swain counties) is the only legal NC dispensary and is not in Wake County.
Operating an unlicensed marijuana dispensary is felony manufacture / sale / delivery under NCGS §90-95(a)(1) — a Class H felony for any sale of a Schedule VI substance, with mandatory minimums by weight. Federal charges under 21 U.S.C. §841 may also apply. Hemp retailers violating consumable-hemp packaging or age-21 rules face civil penalties through the NC Department of Agriculture and ABC.
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