Local Moratoriums for Ohio Adult Use Marijuana Operators

Introduction

In November 2023, 57% of voters in Ohio voted for Issue 2, a ballot initiative which legalized adult recreational marijuana use and tasked the Ohio Departments of Commerce and Development with implementing a legal recreational cannabis industry in the state. As of December 7, 2023, individuals 21 years and older can legally consume and possess marijuana throughout Ohio. Like most other states that have legalized cannabis for recreational use, Ohio allows local jurisdictions to enact ordinances to prohibit or limit the operation of adult-use cannabis businesses within their boundaries. This page presents information on 196 active local moratoriums enacted by Ohio jurisdictions as of October 1, 2026. Please note that the list of moratoriums may not be comprehensive and will continue to be updated as new information becomes available. For example, after a comprehensive review in August 2026, DEPC was able to identify more than 60 additional moratoriums that were not previously accounted for in our data.

Figure 1. Map of Ohio Jurisdictions That Have Enacted a Moratorium for Adult Use Marijuana Operators

Local Prohibition Statute and Host Community Fund

The incorporation of a local business prohibition statute is common among the 24 states that have legalized adult cannabis use for recreational purposes. Only four states out of these 24—New Mexico, Rhode Island, Maryland, and Minnesota—do not give localities the power to prohibit businesses, although these states give localities the right to enact reasonable restrictions on time, place and manner of consumption. The extent to which localities opt out of the legal recreational market varies. For instance, in Michigan 73% of municipalities (1,300 out of 1,773) opted out;^[1] in New York, only about 50% of municipalities (753 out of 1,520) opted out of allowing dispensaries within their boundaries.^[2] In comparison, the 224 Ohio municipalities that have passed moratoriums as of October 1, 2026, represent only a small fraction (just over 10%) of the 924 incorporated municipalities and 1,307 townships in the state of Ohio.

Ohio’s Issue 2 enacted Ohio Revised Code Section 3780.25, under which localities can enact ordinances prohibiting the operation of adult-use businesses, although they may not prohibit the operation of existing medical cannabis operators that are already located within their jurisdiction. Additionally, localities cannot pass ordinances prohibiting or limiting marijuana-related research conducted at state universities, levy a tax, fee, or charge on adult-use operators that are not being levied on other businesses within the municipal corporation or township, and they cannot prohibit or limit home grow, or any other activity authorized under Chapter 3780.

If a dispensary license is issued by the Division of Cannabis Control for a locality that does not have a moratorium in place, the locality has 120 days to enact an ordinance prohibiting the operations of the dispensary. Upon passage of the ordinance, the dispensary has 60 days to cease operations, or begin the process of initiating a petition to operate that would have to be voted on at the next general election.

Host Community Fund

While the current law gives communities the power to prohibit adult-use cannabis operators from their jurisdictions, it also created an incentive for municipalities to allow operators by establishing the Host Community Fund. Thirty-six percent of the recreational cannabis excise tax revenue collected by the state will be directed to the Host Community Fund, which is then distributed to municipal corporations or townships that have adult use dispensaries. This revenue, along with the local sales tax collected from the sale of recreational marijuana, can be used by communities to fund their own priorities.^[3] Learn more about the fund in our report, Potential Loss of Host Community Cannabis Fund Revenue: Ohio Municipalities Give Their Two Cents, and find an interactive map showing tax revenue per municipality on our Marijuana Reform and Taxes page.

The State of Local Moratoriums

As of October 1, 2026, 224 Ohio municipal corporations or townships have passed moratoriums prohibiting adult-use cannabis businesses. We were able to collect the language of 170 of these moratoriums.^[4] The 196 jurisdictions with active moratoriums represent around 19% of Ohio’s population, with the average population of these localities hovering at around 11,000 residents.

Figure 2. Ohio Moratoriums by Jurisdiction’s Population Size

Of the 170 ordinances we collected, 157 jurisdictions enacted full moratoriums for all types of adult use operators. As shown in Table 1, 133 of these jurisdictions have left the length of the moratorium undefined, while the other jurisdictions averaged a moratorium of approximately 17 months—159 are a full year or longer, while eight are six months or shorter. A handful of jurisdictions that enacted adult-use moratoriums already have operating medical marijuana establishments.

Table 1. Ohio Jurisdictions That Have Enacted a Moratorium for Adult Use Marijuana Operators

Please note that jurisdictions that have a moratorium ending date in the past will remain marked as active until we are able to confirm whether or not they have been extended. We will update the status and/or ending date once we receive confirmation. If you are aware of a moratorium not included here, you can help us keep this resource up-to-date by sending a notification to Research Associate Dexter Ridgway.

* Twinsburg Township did not adopt any special legislation pertaining to these uses, either permanent or temporary. The use is effectively prohibited by omission.

The moratoriums are generally brief and often describe the need to ensure “public peace, health, safety, and welfare of [the locality’s] citizens.” The moratoriums also often cite the need for time to review current ordinances and identify any conflicting laws with state laws legalizing marijuana, or to wait for lawmakers in the Ohio General Assembly to revise Issue 2 before making any changes to their own code. Multiple jurisdictions have indicated an intent to actively study current law and create recommendations for their locality once the final state rules for the adult-use recreational industry are adopted.

Table 2. Stated Purpose and Intent of Local Moratoriums

Enduring Consideration for Localities

While approaching a recreational cannabis market carefully might be prudent, localities that prohibit adult-use operators are foregoing potentially significant tax revenue stemming from cannabis businesses being located within their boundaries. Though Ohio tax revenues will not begin to accrue until the second half of 2024, revenues soon thereafter are forecasted to be considerable.^[5] In addition to money allocated through the Host Community Fund, localities with active adult-use operators will generate local sales tax revenue that can be used for purposes specific to the community.

Moratoriums also limit opportunities for local entrepreneurs seeking to enter the adult-use market as well as possible employment prospects for local residents. For instance, according to some reports, Michigan’s cannabis industry has created 45,000 full-time positions.^[6] Because cannabis businesses advance economic development in myriad ways, municipalities and townships considering moratoriums need to weigh not only public health and public safety concerns, but also the potential benefits of economic development, job creation, and tax revenue.

Lastly, localities should consider the possibility that prohibiting adult-use operators could have the unintended effect of increasing efforts to access cannabis through other means by local residents. Localities cannot make cannabis possession or use or even home grow illegal, and some local citizens are likely to seek out cannabis despite local bans through home grow efforts, or by traveling to nearby localities to find legal stores, or by turning to illicit markets to fill the void. Localities should continuously examine whether public health and public safety concerns are best served through local prohibitions or through well-crafted regulatory efforts.

End Notes

[1] Ken Haddad, “Here is which Michigan communities are opted out of adult-use marijuana sales”, December 12, 2023. Click on Detroit. https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/michigan/2023/12/12/heres-which-michigan-communities-are-opted-out-of-adult-use-marijuana-sales/

[2] Marijuana Opt-Out Tracker, Rockefeller Institute of Government, SUNY. https://rockinst.org/issue-areas/state-local-government/municipal-opt-out-tracker/

[3] The wording in the statute is as follows: “Thirty-six per cent to the host community cannabis fund for the benefit of municipal corporations or townships that have adult use dispensaries, and the municipal corporations or townships may use such funds for any approved purpose.” It is not clear what “approved purpose” means and which department, if any, is tasked with defining “approved purposes”.

[4] Avon Lake has enacted both a public consumption and adult use retail moratorium ordinances. Our center has collected language for both ordinances but does not include the public consumption ordinance in our count.

[5] Jana Hrdinova and Dexter Ridgway, “What Tax Revenues Should Ohioans Expect If Ohio Legalizes Adult-Use Cannabis?”, August 2023. Drug Enforcement and Policy Center. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4537855

[6] Angela Mulka, “Michigan's cannabis industry employs more than 46,000 workers”, April 26, 2024. Pioneer. https://www.bigrapidsnews.com/news/article/michigan-cannabis-industry-second-largest-in-us-19420833.php