Los Angeles dispensaries: 8 licensed shops by area (2026)

Every cannabis business in the city needs two licenses, one from the state's Department of Cannabis Control and one from the city's Department of Cannabis Regulation. DCR points to Articles 4, 5 and 6 of Chapter X of the Los Angeles Municipal Code as the city's cannabis law: Article 4 sets licensing procedures and the Social Equity Program, Article 5 sets where businesses may locate, and Article 6 restricts advertising. DCR's Rules and Regulations fill in the day-to-day operating rules, and the Cannabis Regulation Commission approves or denies annual licenses.

For shoppers, Regulation No. 5 is the one that matters. A storefront may sell only between 6 am and 10 pm, must clear customers out within 15 minutes of closing, and must check every customer's age with an electronic device. Entry is for adults 21 and older, except medical patients, and a patient under 18 must come with a parent, guardian or caregiver. No one may consume cannabis, drink alcohol or use tobacco on licensed premises, sales through drive-through or walk-up windows are banned, and every store must post signs against loitering and public consumption. A store may hand a paid order to a customer waiting in a car right outside, on camera and after an age check.

The city also limits how many shops can open and where. A new storefront must be at least 700 feet from schools, public parks, public libraries, day care centers, recovery facilities and permanent supportive housing, and 700 feet from any other storefront (LAMC 105.02), though DCR says an ordinance in effect since 26 Jan 2026 lets older medical dispensaries stay at their current sites until 2030. Once a Community Plan Area has one storefront license per 7,500 residents, a new store there needs a City Council finding of public convenience or necessity; no one may hold more than three storefront licenses, and new ones are reserved for Social Equity applicants until 31 Dec 2031 under an extension DCR announced in March 2026. Licensed shops display a Los Angeles County emblem placard near the front door, in the window or in a case on the front wall (LAMC 104.23), which is a quick way to tell a licensed store from an illegal one.

Delivery runs on its own rules. Licensed businesses may deliver between 6 am and 10 pm daily, only by an employee 21 or older in an unmarked vehicle, and the customer's age is checked electronically both at ordering and at the door. A delivery-only business cannot let customers onto its premises, hand over orders curbside, or deliver to its own premises or the sidewalk within 20 feet of them. DCR's table lists 33 licensed delivery businesses, and DCC data show 64 active delivery-only licenses in the city.

The city's cannabis business tax is 10 percent of gross receipts on adult-use sales and 5 percent on medical sales, set as $100 and $50 per $1,000 in LAMC Sections 21.51 and 21.52 and shown on the Office of Finance rate table, which applies the same rates to storefront and delivery sales. The business owes it on its gross receipts, so how it appears on your receipt depends on the shop. On top of that you pay the state's 15 percent excise tax, in force since 1 Oct 2025, and sales tax.

The tax dates from Proposition M, which city voters adopted on 7 Mar 2017 by 319,017 votes to 77,523; its tax provisions took effect on 1 Jan 2018. Voters approved Proposition CB on 2 Jun 2026, applying the same taxes to unlicensed cannabis businesses without changing the rates for licensed ones. Proposals to cut the rate have not passed: a September 2025 council action only ordered a study of rates between 1.5 and 8 percent, and a tiered tax of 0.25 to 6 percent that the Cannabis Regulation Commission recommended in July 2025 has been waiting in committee, re-referred to the Public Works Committee on 28 Aug 2026.

In practice, only on private property with the owner's permission. Under Health and Safety Code 11362.3 you may not use cannabis in any public place or smoke it where tobacco is banned, and smoking is also off limits near a school, day care center or youth center (within 1,000 feet) when children are there. Public use carries a fine of up to $100, and smoking where tobacco is banned or near a school with children present, a fine of up to $250 (Health and Safety Code 11362.4). Vaping counts as smoking under that section. Landlords and hotels can ban cannabis outright, DCC says most hotels do, and no hotel may allow smoking or vaping, because SB 626 has made every California hotel smoke-free since 1 Jan 2024.

City law adds its own bans. LAMC 63.44 prohibits smoking in every city park, beach and recreation area and defines smoking to include cannabis and electronic smoking devices, in wording set by an ordinance that took effect on 16 Jul 2022; parks close from 10:30 pm to 5 am and beaches from midnight to 5 am. LAMC 41.50 bans smoking in city buildings, at city-permitted farmers markets and in outdoor dining areas, a zone that reaches 10 feet beyond the tables and 40 feet around food trucks, carts and kiosks. The Fire Department lists the same places, and vaping has been banned wherever smoking is since 19 Apr 2014.

Venice Beach and its Ocean Front Walk, a boardwalk of more than two miles, are run by the Department of Recreation and Parks, as is Griffith Park, whose posted rules ban smoking. Dockweiler State Beach in Playa del Rey is inside the city and has been run for it by LA County Beaches and Harbors since 1976; the county's beach rules also say no smoking. The Walk of Fame, which runs along Hollywood Boulevard from La Brea Avenue to Gower Street and along Vine Street from Sunset Boulevard to Yucca Street, is a public sidewalk. DCR's own consumer flyer tells people not to use cannabis on beaches or in parks.

Nor can you use it where you buy it: DCR rules ban consumption on every licensed business premises, and the city has not licensed a lounge. Metro's Customer Code of Conduct bans smoking and vaping on its trains and buses and in its stations, with a $75 fine for adults, and state law bars using cannabis in a car or carrying an open package in the passenger area.

Not in the City of Los Angeles. DCR's Local Law page says consumption lounges and temporary cannabis events are prohibited, its rules say it will not issue permits for temporary or special cannabis events, and licensed businesses may not take part in unlicensed pop-ups, 4/20 events or cannabis farmers markets. State law lets a city allow on-site consumption at a licensed retailer (Business and Professions Code 26200(g)), and AB 1775, approved on 30 Sep 2024 and in effect from 1 Jan 2025, lets a city also allow non-cannabis food and drink and ticketed performances in a lounge, provided the lounge admits only adults 21 and over, stays hidden from public view and has no alcohol or tobacco.

The city has been studying a program since 13 Dec 2024, when Councilmembers Imelda Padilla and Eunisses Hernandez moved for a lounge and event licensing framework ahead of the 2026 World Cup and the 2028 Olympic Games. The council adopted a committee report on 5 Aug 2025, by 12 votes with 3 absent, instructing DCR to report back. DCR's report of 15 Dec 2025 proposed an on-site consumption pilot running until 2030, open only to existing storefront licensees, in the store or on an immediately adjacent parcel, with one permit for edibles only and another that adds smoking and vaping. The file was re-referred to the Public Works Committee on 28 Aug 2026 with no ordinance adopted.

West Hollywood, a separate city, does license lounges: DCR's report notes that it has issued all 16 consumption licenses it authorized. If you want to consume somewhere other than private property, a licensed West Hollywood lounge is a legal option under that city's own rules.

Carry government photo ID that proves you are 21 or older; state rules accept a passport from any country, and STIIIZY DTLA says it takes out-of-state licenses. Shoppers aged 18 to 20 need a physician's recommendation and can buy only medical cannabis. The shop will scan your ID, because city rules require an electronic age check for every customer, and state rules cap one customer's purchases at 28.5 grams of flower, 8 grams of concentrate and 6 immature plants a day (4 CCR 15409).

Check the license before you hand over money. Licensed shops display a Los Angeles County emblem placard near the front door, and every shop on this page appears in DCC's license data with its number. Proposition CB, which voters approved in June 2026, was written to tax the unlicensed sellers that still operate in the city. Most shops take cash and debit; Green Goddess Collective and MMD Hollywood keep ATMs on site, and CCA Silverlake says it takes credit cards.

Plan where you will use what you buy before you leave the counter: private property with the owner's permission is the only legal option in the city. Do not take it to LAX. Airport police say they will not arrest people who follow state law, but TSA checkpoints are federal, TSA refers any illegal substance it finds to law enforcement, and DCC reminds visitors that federal law bars taking cannabis across state lines.