Adams County, CO Cannabis Regulations: Dispensary Zoning (2026)

Section 6 of Ordinance No. 15 confines Marijuana Hospitality Businesses and Retail Marijuana Hospitality and Sales Businesses to all industrial zone districts plus Commercial-3, Commercial-4 and Commercial-5, on top of the separate buffer distances. For stand-alone retail marijuana stores, cultivation and manufacturing facilities licensed under the county's Local Marijuana Licensing Regulations, siting and required separation distances are set by the Adams County Development Standards and Regulations rather than spelled out in the licensing regulations themselves, and the Local Licensing Authority must refuse an application for a location the Development Standards don't expressly permit.

Adams County has not opted out of retail marijuana: a resolution adopted March 31, 2020 raised the county's cap to six Retail Marijuana Store licenses, three Retail Marijuana Cultivation Facility licenses and three Retail Marijuana Product Manufacturing Facility licenses, after converting an unused testing-facility license into a sixth store license. Medical marijuana is a different story. A resolution the Board adopted December 8, 2010 prohibits establishing or operating medical marijuana centers, optional premises cultivation operations and medical marijuana-infused products manufacturers anywhere in unincorporated Adams County, and a later 2014 amendment says that ban stays on the books unless and until the Board repeals it, which nothing in the current code shows has happened.