Missoula City Council to consider ordinance to pause cannabis dispensaries

MISSOULA — An ordinance suspending new business licenses for recreational marijuana dispensaries will be introduced in an effort to reduce children’s access to marijuana at the Missoula City Council meeting Monday night.

There are currently 51 dispensaries in the city of Missoula, with eight applications pending.

Over the past year, members of the Missoula Health Department and City Council have discussed the alarming number of young people going to emergency rooms, going to rehab and being poisoned by cannabis use.

Councilmember Gwen Jones, who proposed the ordinance, says this pause on business licenses is an opportunity for the Missoula City Council to rework the areas where dispensaries are located.

“A lot of information is circulating and studies have been carried out. “The more dispensaries there are in a community, the more young people use them,” Jones said. “So having fewer dispensaries can still provide that service in Missoula, but making it a little less visible – less visible in people’s faces – will probably be better in the area in the long run for a better environment. So our young people won’t don’t use it.”

The final hearing on the proposed order will take place on July 8, 2024.