Hempstead, NY Cannabis Regulations: Dispensary Zoning (2026)

Article IV of Chapter 121, adopted December 7, 2021 and effective February 28, 2022, exercises the opt-out authority New York gave every town, city, and village under Cannabis Law § 131. The Town Board declared that licensure and establishment of a retail dispensary license or on-site consumption license under Article 4 of the state Cannabis Law authorizing adult-use retail sales does not apply in the unincorporated portions of the Town, and formally requested that the state Cannabis Control Board prohibit such licenses within Town jurisdiction.

Because state law specifies that a town's opt-out law applies only to the area of the town outside any village within it, the incorporated villages inside Hempstead, such as Freeport, Rockville Centre, Garden City, Lynbrook, and Valley Stream, each separately decide their own opt-out status under their own local law; this Town ordinance has no effect inside those villages. The Town also separately banned retail sale of any product containing Delta-8 THC anywhere in the Town under § 121-20, adopted the same year, regardless of the opt-out question.

Any retail dispensary or consumption site that opens in the unincorporated Town despite the opt-out is treated as violating this article, with enforcement authority given jointly to Nassau County Police and the Department of Buildings.