Sacramento dispensaries: licensed shops by district (2026)

The city regulates cannabis businesses under Chapter 5.150 of the Sacramento City Code, with Article III covering storefront dispensaries, Article VII delivery-only dispensaries and Article XI consumption lounges; the health and safety rules sit in Title 8 and zoning in Title 17. Permits come from the city's Office of Cannabis Management in the Finance Department, and every shop also needs a state license from the DCC. The city's own guidance for 4/20 in 2026 sums up the visitor rules: consumption only in private spaces, never in parks, on sidewalks, in parking lots or in vehicles.

Storefront permits are capped at 43, a number the council set on 22 Apr 2025 after raising the cap from 30 to 40 in October 2020. The cap is split between non-equity operators and businesses majority-owned by participants in CORE, the Cannabis Opportunity Reinvestment and Equity program the council created by resolution on 9 Aug 2018 for people and communities most affected by past drug enforcement; the city's adopted goal is for half of its cannabis businesses to be CORE-owned. New storefront permits are not open to application: when one becomes available it goes to the next person on the 2021 CORE qualification list, and the city lists five CORE participants who already hold storefront opportunities, with deadlines to apply for and open a store of 1 Apr 2027, 29 Aug 2029 and 23 May 2030.

Delivery is legal in the city, but only from a permitted dispensary, storefront or delivery-only, and never through a third-party courier; a delivery-only dispensary still needs a brick-and-mortar site with a conditional use permit. Storefronts in shopping-center, residential mixed-use, limited commercial and central business district zones cannot add delivery. State law requires a 600-foot buffer from schools, and city code section 17.228.900 adds a 600-foot buffer from neighborhood and community parks.

On hours, state rules allow a licensed retailer to sell between 6 am and 10 pm (4 CCR 15403), and the city sets its own limit in section 5.150.390. We could not read that section on 19 Oct 2026 because the city's code library blocked automated access, so this page does not state the city figure; the six shops listed here open between 7 and 9 am and close at 9 pm. Cannabis businesses pay the city a tax of 4 percent of gross receipts, remitted monthly, on top of the state's 15 percent excise tax and sales tax.

State law sets the baseline: adults may not smoke or ingest cannabis in a public place, smoke it where tobacco smoking is prohibited, or smoke it within 1,000 feet of a school, day care center or youth center while children are present (Health and Safety Code 11362.3). The city's 2026 guidance repeats that cannabis may be used in private residences unless the property owner or landlord prohibits it, and lists parks, sidewalks, parking lots and vehicles as off limits.

The city's cannabis office went further in a policy memo dated 17 Jul 2026: public consumption is permitted only in a consumption lounge run as an accessory to a storefront dispensary that holds both a city permit and a DCC license, or at a cannabis event at Cal Expo that has local authorization and a DCC event license. Anything else can violate state regulations (4 CCR 15601), Business and Professions Code 26200 and city code sections 5.150.040 and 8.133.030.

Venues add their own rules. Golden 1 Center is a smoke-free building that bans smoking, including vaporizers, within 250 feet of the arena, allows no re-entry for guests who step out to smoke, and lists vape pens and lighters among prohibited items. Cal Expo is a smoking- and vaping-free facility apart from designated smoking areas, and its code of conduct, updated in December 2023, bars the sale, consumption or display of cannabis on the fairgrounds outside a designated, permitted area. The Capitol grounds are state property and a public place: the CHP's permit rules address alcohol, and state law bars tobacco smoking within 20 feet of a public building's doors and windows (Government Code 7597).

In the American River Parkway and other county parks, the county allows smoking only in developed picnic areas, on asphalt surfaces, golf courses and levee tops; because cannabis use in any public place is illegal under state law, that rule does not open the parkway to cannabis. Hotel rooms are no option for smoking or vaping either: state law has made every California hotel and motel room smoke-free since 1 Jan 2024.

Not yet open, as far as the city has said: its 17 Apr 2026 notice reported none, and we found no later city notice of an opening as of 19 Oct 2026, though the city's lounge checklist, revised 24 Jul 2026, now lets a permitted dispensary apply to add one. The council voted 5 to 4 on 19 Nov 2024, with Mayor Darrell Steinberg casting the deciding vote, to approve an ordinance creating a pilot program for social consumption at designated dispensaries. Existing permitted dispensaries can apply for one of two add-on permits: Type 1 allows consumption of cannabis-infused food and drink, and Type 2 adds smoking of flower, pre-rolls and concentrates where the business meets ventilation requirements. Patrons must be 21 or older.

The city said the add-on permits would open after the council reviewed land-use and zoning amendments expected in early 2025; by April 2026 the city reported that the work was still in progress and no lounge had opened. The council then adopted the Title 17 cannabis land-use update on 16 Jun 2026 and, on 23 Jun 2026, a lounge land-use ordinance and business operating permit fees for Type 1 and Type 2 lounges, per its draft minutes, and the city's permit forms page carries a consumption lounge checklist and add-on application. Article XI of Chapter 5.150 holds the lounge rules, including operating hours, an age restriction and a repeal clause for the pilot.

Cal Expo is the other route: the city can issue the local authorization a promoter needs for a DCC-licensed consumption event at the fairgrounds, though it does not issue an on-site consumption permit for Cal Expo itself. Check an event's own page for whether consumption is licensed before assuming you can light up.

Bring a valid government photo ID showing you are 21 or older; a physician's recommendation lets customers 18 to 20 buy medical cannabis. A licensed retailer may sell you up to 28.5 grams of non-concentrated cannabis, 8 grams of concentrate and 6 immature plants in a day (4 CCR 15409), whatever the shop's own menu suggests.

Cash and debit are the norm. Embarc charges a flat fee on electronic transactions, KOLAS says it cannot take credit cards because of federal rules, Mainstage lists cash and bank transfer, and A Therapeutic Alternative's page markup mentions credit cards, which is rare enough to check at the counter. Toasty and Embarc both say they have an ATM inside.

Flying out of SMF? The airport's security page defers to TSA, and TSA says its officers do not search for drugs but refer anything illegal they find to law enforcement; cannabis is still illegal under federal law, so finish or leave what you bought. Downtown, the city garages' pre-pay rate runs until 6 am the next day, which matters if you are staying for a Kings game.