North Hempstead, NY Cannabis Regulations: Dispensary Zoning (2026)

Local Law No. 29-2021, adopted December 16, 2021 and codified as Town Code Chapter 11A, states the Town Board's intent to opt out of allowing cannabis retail dispensaries and on-site cannabis consumption establishments that would otherwise be permitted under Article 4 of the state's Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act. Section 11A-2 grounds the opt-out in Cannabis Law § 131, which lets a town board request that the state Cannabis Control Board bar retail dispensary and on-site consumption licenses inside its borders, subject to a permissive referendum under Municipal Home Rule Law § 24, meaning voters could have forced a public vote by petition before it took effect.

' Because the ban runs through the state licensing system rather than the Town's own zoning code, the effect is that the Cannabis Control Board will not issue a retail dispensary or on-site consumption license for any address inside the Town's jurisdiction outside its roughly thirty incorporated villages, each of which sets its own opt-out policy separately. The law took effect immediately on filing with the Secretary of State and carries a standard severability clause in § 11A-4. L. No. 10-2025, leaving the opt-out itself in place.

Medical cannabis dispensaries authorized under the state's separate medical program are not addressed by this chapter, so the opt-out reaches only adult-use retail and consumption licensing.