New York Signs SB 9155, Updating Dispensary Distance Rules Near Schools and Houses of Worship

11 February 2026

New York has changed the fine print on where adult-use cannabis dispensaries may legally operate, focusing on how close a retail site can be to a school or a house of worship, and how the state should measure that distance.

The new law, Senate Bill 9155 (SB 09155), was introduced in the state Senate on February 8, 2026 at the request of the Office of Cannabis Management. It was signed into law on February 11, 2026 as Chapter 2.

At the center of the change is an update to section 72(6) of New York’s cannabis law. The bill repeals the prior subdivision 6 and replaces it with a new version that sets clear “same street” proximity standards for adult-use retail cannabis sites. Under the new language, a retail location that is licensed to sell adult-use cannabis cannot be on the same street and within 500 feet of a building containing a school. The law also sets a second standard for religious buildings, stating that a licensed adult-use retail premises cannot be on the same street and within 200 feet of a building exclusively occupied as a house of worship.

For many operators and applicants, the more practical change may be how the state defines and measures distance. SB 9155 requires measurements to be taken in straight lines, from the center of the nearest entrance of the dispensary premises to the center of the nearest entrance of the school or house of worship. The law then defines “entrance” in detail. It limits entrances to doors regularly used for student ingress, doors regularly used for public ingress to a house of worship, and doors regularly used for customer ingress to the retail premises.

It also narrows what does not count. A door without exterior hardware, a door used solely as an emergency or fire exit, a door used only for maintenance or delivery, or a door that leads directly to a part of a building not regularly used by students, by the general public attending worship, or by dispensary customers is not deemed an “entrance.”

The bill also anticipates real-world layouts, like buildings that are set back from the street. If a school, house of worship, or dispensary is set back from a public thoroughfare, the walkway or stairs leading to a qualifying door is treated as the entrance, and the measurement is taken to the center of the walkway or stairs at the point where it meets the building line or the public thoroughfare.

For houses of worship, SB 9155 also clarifies what “exclusively occupied” means. A building does not lose that status because of incidental uses that do not detract from its predominant religious character. The law gives examples, from fundraising events, to support meetings for conditions and diseases, to blood drives, health screenings, and exercise classes intended to promote health. It also says that accepting payment to defray costs related to another party’s use of the building does not change the building’s status as “exclusively” occupied as a house of worship.

The law includes several transition and compliance protections that may be especially relevant to existing businesses and applicants who have been navigating shifting standards. It states that no renewal of a license shall be denied because of the school or house-of-worship restrictions in the new subdivision 6. It also says that, for applications, proximity is determined based on the date the applicant submits its location to the Office of Cannabis Management.

The effective-date language goes further. Licenses issued before the act takes effect are deemed compliant with the new subdivision 6. And for some applicants who were advised in writing by the Office of Cannabis Management that their location complied with proximity standards before the effective date, the law directs that their applications be reviewed using the office procedures that were used prior to July 28, 2025. Other applications are reviewed under the new subdivision 6.

For New Yorkers following the adult-use rollout, this law does not change the basic idea that dispensary locations can be restricted near certain community institutions. But it does lay out a more detailed rulebook for how those restrictions work, which can affect whether a storefront is eligible, how neighbors evaluate a proposed site, and how much risk an applicant is taking before signing a lease or starting construction.