Scottsdale, AZ Cannabis Regulations: Dispensary Zoning (2026)

When Arizona voters legalized recreational marijuana sales, cities retained authority to keep new adult-use retail marijuana establishments out of their jurisdiction, and Scottsdale exercised that authority. Section 25-1 states the City's purpose is to prohibit "the retail sale, cultivation, storage, processing, testing, and manufacturing of marijuana and marijuana products in the City," except as allowed for personal use or otherwise provided in Chapter 25. " Under § 25-2(H), a dual licensee is an entity holding both a nonprofit medical marijuana dispensary registration and a marijuana establishment license.

To use the exception, § 25-4(A)(1)-(2) requires the dual licensee to operate both the medical dispensary and the marijuana establishment cooperatively in a shared location, and to not have forfeited or terminated its medical dispensary registration with the state Department of Health Services. In practice, that means only pre-existing medical marijuana dispensaries that also secured a state adult-use license can sell recreational marijuana in Scottsdale, and only from the same physical location as their medical operation; there is no path in the code for a stand-alone recreational marijuana establishment, dispensary, or retail storefront to open anywhere in the City. Section 25-5 goes further and prohibits marijuana testing facilities as well, other than an independent third-party laboratory.