How to Get a Cannabis License in Montana (2026)

Not yet, for most new businesses. As of October 2026, Montana is under a moratorium on new cultivator, manufacturer and dispensary licenses, and the state says it will begin accepting applications from new applicants and new premises on July 1, 2027. Transporter, testing laboratory and tribal combined-use licenses are outside the moratorium.

Every cannabis business license in Montana is issued by the Department of Revenue. Since August 2025, the work has been done by its Cannabis and Alcohol Regulation Division (CARD), formed by merging the old Cannabis Control Division with the alcohol division. Your county and city matter too, because whether adult-use sales are allowed depends on how your county voted on legalization.

Below you’ll find every license type and fee, what the moratorium means and how to prepare for 2027, all checked against Department of Revenue sources in October 2026.

Key takeaways

Montana is not taking new dispensary, cultivation or manufacturing applications from newcomers right now; that window is scheduled to reopen in mid-2027.
Transporters and testing labs can still apply, and Montana’s federally recognized tribes have their own combined-use license.
Your county’s 2020 vote decides whether a dispensary there can sell to adult-use customers or must stay medical-only.
Owners must be Montana residents, pass fingerprint checks and show where their money comes from, so plan your ownership structure early.
Rules differ by state and change often. Always confirm current requirements with the Montana Department of Revenue before you apply.

Who regulates cannabis businesses in Montana?

The Montana Department of Revenue licenses, inspects and taxes every marijuana business in the state. Day-to-day licensing sits with CARD, which runs applications through the department’s TransAction Portal (TAP) and handles worker permits, medical registry cards and inspections.

The legal framework has three main pieces:

Initiative 190 (2020): Voters legalized adult-use marijuana.
The Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act (2021): Lawmakers rewrote I-190 into Title 16, Chapter 12 of the Montana Code Annotated (MCA).
Administrative rules: The detailed requirements for fees, security, labeling and inspections are in ARM Chapter 42.39.

Montana still runs a medical program alongside adult use. A 2025 law, Senate Bill 27, removed the old split between “former medical” and newer licensees, so any dispensary in a county that allows adult use may now sell to both cardholders and adults 21 and older.

Adult-use sales carry a 20% state tax and medical sales 4%, and counties can add a local option tax of up to 3% with voter approval.

What cannabis license types are there in Montana?

A business gets one license per type, can add sites under it and may hold any combination of types. The table shows each type with its Department of Revenue fees.

License type	What it lets you do	Application fee	Annual or renewal fee
Dispensary (medical-only or adult-use)	Sell to registered cardholders and, outside red counties, to adults 21 and older	$1,000 nonrefundable processing fee per location	$5,000 per location
Cultivator, Micro tier	Grow indoors on up to 250 sq ft of canopy in one facility	Nonrefundable processing fee of 20% of the tier fee	$1,000
Cultivator, Tiers 1 and 2	Grow indoors on up to 1,000 or 2,500 sq ft of canopy; the highest tier a new grower can start at	20% of the tier fee	Tier 1 $2,500; Tier 2 $5,000
Cultivator, Tiers 3 to 12	Larger canopies, from 5,000 up to 50,000 sq ft; reached by moving up one tier at renewal	20% of the tier fee	Tier 3 $7,500; Tier 4 $10,000; Tier 5 $13,000; Tier 6 $15,000; Tier 7 $17,500; Tier 8 $20,000; Tier 9 $23,000; Tier 10 $27,000; Tier 11 $32,000; Tier 12 $37,000
Manufacturer	Turn marijuana into concentrates, edibles and other products, and package and label them	20% of the tier fee	By monthly concentrate output: up to 10 lb $5,000; 10 to 15 lb $10,000; 15 lb or more $20,000
Transporter	Move products between licensees and labs, and deliver to medical cardholders; no adult-use delivery	20% of the license fee	$10,000 for a two-year license
Testing laboratory	Test samples for potency and contaminants; requires ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation	20% of the license fee	$5,000 per premises
Storage facility (transporters and labs)	Hold product temporarily at a separate site, for no more than 48 hours	Not published separately; ask CARD	$1,000 per facility
Combined-use (tribal)	One cultivation license plus one dispensary at the same premises, for a Montana tribe or a business it majority-owns	20% of the license fee	$7,500
Change of premises location	Move an existing licensed site, where local rules allow	$2,500	Not applicable
Worker permit	Required for every employee before they start work	$50	$50 to renew; $10 replacement
Background check	Fingerprint check for owners and key people	$30 per check	Name-based checks yearly; fingerprints every five years

The fee rule is the same for every license. You pay a nonrefundable processing fee equal to 20% of the license fee when you apply or renew, and the department won’t touch the application until it arrives. The other 80% is due once the department tells you the license is approved, so the total each year equals the license fee in the table. Compare other states in our guide to dispensary license costs by state.

Are Montana cannabis licenses open right now?

No, not for newcomers who want to grow, make or sell marijuana. Here is where things stand as of October 2026:

Moratorium: New cultivator, manufacturer and dispensary licenses have been frozen since the adult-use program began in January 2022, with the Legislature extending the freeze more than once. SB 27 extended it through June 30, 2027.
Location freeze: SB 27 also “froze the footprint.” Existing licensees had to file complete applications for any new locations by June 30, 2025. Since July 1, 2025, no new business locations are issued, although an existing site can move if local rules allow.
Next window: The Department of Revenue says it will begin accepting applications from applicants and premises not previously licensed on or after July 1, 2027. It also says it is still evaluating rules and processes for those new licenses, so expect details closer to the date.
Still open: Transporter and testing lab licenses are exempt from the moratorium. Combined-use licenses for tribes are also exempt, and CARD lists them as open now.

The Legislature meets again in early 2027, before the scheduled reopening, and has changed this timeline before. Watch CARD’s news page before you commit money.

Can you buy an existing Montana license?

The license itself can’t be sold. The Department of Revenue states plainly that marijuana licenses may not be transferred, unlike some alcohol licenses. What does change is ownership of the business that holds the license. Every owner and financial interest holder must be listed on the Business Structure Form and organization chart, those documents must be updated whenever ownership changes, and new owners face the same fingerprint and suitability checks. Since October 2025, SB 74 also counts private lenders and convertible-note holders as having a financial interest.

How do you apply for a Montana cannabis license?

All applications go through TAP, the department’s online portal. The same steps apply to a transporter applying today and a dispensary applicant preparing for 2027.

Step-by-step flow for getting a Montana cannabis license: check timing and license type, confirm county and city rules, form the business and gather owner documents, secure the property, apply in TAP, fingerprints and background checks, local building and fire approval, state inspection and final approval, and opening with Metrc and worker permits — The main stages of a Montana cannabis license application, from planning to opening day. Source: Montana Department of Revenue, General License Information.

Each site under your license must be applied for, inspected and approved separately before it operates. Licenses last one year. Renewal opens 90 days before your license expires, must be filed at least 60 days before it expires, and the department does not grant extensions.

What requirements do you need to meet?

Ownership and residency

Montana is one of the few states with a residency rule for owners. Under MCA 16-12-203, the department may not license anyone who has lived in Montana for less than one year, and the person with day-to-day control of operations must prove residency. A Montana driver’s license, state ID or Montana tribal ID works as proof.

Anyone with a financial interest of 5% or more, or who is a controlling owner, must be at least 21 and submit fingerprints. Applicants must also show their funding comes from a suitable source.

Background checks and disqualifying offenses

The department runs a fingerprint check at first licensure and every five years, with name-based checks in the years between. You can be refused if you:

have a felony or drug conviction within the past five years, unless the department finds you sufficiently rehabilitated
are in state custody or under supervision by corrections or youth court
had a marijuana license revoked within three years of applying
owe certain taxes, judgments, child support or defaulted student loans

Capital and bonding

Montana doesn’t set a minimum capital amount for dispensaries, growers or manufacturers. Testing labs must show insurance and bonding as part of their application, along with a qualified scientific director.

Real estate and buffer zones

You need to own the property or file the owner’s written permission. Each location must pass local building and fire inspections and show city or county approval, usually a local business license. All new grows must be indoors.

State law bars a cultivator, manufacturer or dispensary from opening within 500 feet of a school, place of worship or licensed child-care facility when both sit on the same street. The distance is measured in a straight line between public entrances, and cities or counties can set a larger buffer or replace the state rule with their own ordinance.

Security plan and SOPs

Inspectors look for a written security plan, a single secured public entrance, alarms on perimeter doors and windows, and continuous video recording kept for at least 60 days. Keep emergency procedures and SOPs, such as waste disposal, in one binder on site. Our dispensary security requirements guide covers what inspectors usually check.

Insurance

Outside testing labs, CARD’s license pages don’t name an insurance requirement, but landlords and lenders usually do.

Worker permits and training

Every employee needs a CARD worker permit before their first shift. As of October 2026, workers must complete free online courses on legal sales and on spotting human trafficking, renewed each year. Our budtender training requirements guide covers what else to teach new hires.

Local approval and zoning in Montana

Montana uses a “green county” and “red county” system based on the November 2020 vote on I-190.

Green counties voted for I-190. Adult-use businesses are allowed there without a local vote, though residents can later petition for an election to prohibit them.
Red counties voted against I-190. A marijuana business can’t operate until local voters approve that license category at an election. Dispensaries in red counties may keep making medical sales only.

Local voters decide category by category, so a county can allow cultivation but not adult-use sales, for example. In counties with a city of more than 5,000 people, the city’s votes are counted separately, and a city can hold its own election. A vote to ban a category takes effect 90 days after the election. No local government can block licensed transport on public roads.

Cities and counties can also regulate marijuana businesses through zoning, inspections and business licenses. Call the county planning office before you look at property.

Montana does not run a social equity licensing program. There are no priority reviews, reduced fees or reserved licenses for people harmed by past enforcement, and CARD’s license pages describe none.

The closest thing to a reserved license is the combined-use license. It was created for Montana’s eight federally recognized tribes, or businesses majority-owned by one of them, and each tribe can hold only one. It pairs a cultivation license with one dispensary and lets the grower move up several canopy tiers at once, as far as Tier 5, without the usual one-tier-per-year rule.

Montana cannabis market at a glance

$326.9Mestimated adult-use and medical marijuana sales in calendar year 2025 (Montana Department of Revenue, 2026)

567licensed dispensary locations as of July 1, 2025 (Montana Department of Revenue, 2025)

5,824active marijuana worker permits as of July 1, 2025 (Montana Department of Revenue, 2025)

$49.7Madult-use marijuana tax collected in fiscal year 2024 (Montana Department of Revenue, 2025)

After you’re licensed: staying compliant

Renewal every year: File in TAP inside the renewal window and pay the processing fee again. A late renewal can’t be extended.
Seed-to-sale tracking: Montana uses Metrc. Every plant, transfer and sale must be recorded, and dispensary sales reports are audited against tracking data. Our seed-to-sale tracking explainer walks through the basics.
Inspections: CARD inspects every licensed facility, and the old Cannabis Control Division carried out 1,562 inspections in 2024. Penalties range from compliance letters and fines to suspension and revocation.
Packaging and product limits: Since July 1, 2026, edible packages are capped at 100 mg of THC and 5 mg per serving, exit packages need an addiction resource link, and dispensaries must display consumer education posters. See our packaging and labeling guide.
Signs: Outdoor signs can’t use slang terms or banned imagery and can’t claim products are safe.
Ownership changes: Update your Business Structure Form and organization chart whenever an owner, lender or manager changes. Our dispensary compliance checklist helps you build routines.

Your Montana cannabis license checklist

Decide which license type you want and whether you can apply now or must wait for July 2027.
Check whether your county is green or red and whether local voters have approved your license category.
Confirm that the person running daily operations has at least one year of Montana residency.
Form your entity, list every owner, lender and financial interest holder, and document your funding.
Book fingerprints for everyone with a 5% or larger stake.
Find an indoor site that meets the same-street school and church buffer, and get the owner’s written permission.
Get your local business license and pass building and fire inspections.
Write your security plan and SOPs, install alarms and cameras, then apply in TAP.
Pay the balance of the license fee once approved, and set up Metrc.
Get worker permits and required training certificates for every employee before opening.

For new cannabis businesses: get found on WhereLeaf

Once your license is issued and your doors are open, customers still need to find you. Add your business to WhereLeaf so shoppers using our dispensary finder can see your location, hours and menu, and look at our listing packages if you want more visibility. We can’t promise rankings or sales, but an accurate listing helps people choose a licensed business.

Comparing markets? See all our cannabis license guides by state and province.

Frequently asked questions

How much does a cannabis license cost in Montana?

The table above lists every state fee, which is tied to license type, canopy tier or manufacturing output. State fees are usually the smallest part of startup costs. Rent, an indoor build-out, security systems and legal help typically cost far more, and Montana publishes no official estimate of total startup costs.

When can I apply for a new dispensary license in Montana?

The Department of Revenue says new applicants can apply on or after July 1, 2027, unless lawmakers change the date in the 2027 session. Until then, the only way into retail is through ownership of a business that is already licensed, with full disclosure to the state.

Do I need to live in Montana to get a cannabis license?

Yes, at least in part. The state won’t license anyone who has lived in Montana for less than a year, and the person in charge of daily operations must prove Montana residency. Out-of-state investors must disclose their marijuana interests in other states.

Can I start a cannabis delivery business in Montana?

Only for medical patients. A transporter license lets you deliver to registered cardholders and move products between businesses, but adult-use delivery isn’t allowed. A transporter without its own facility can’t store products overnight and must finish all transfers the same day.

Can I open a consumption lounge in Montana?

No. State law bans consuming marijuana on any licensed premises, and dispensaries must post signs saying so. There is no lounge or on-site consumption license type.

Can I grow outdoors in Montana?

Not on a new license. All new cultivation sites must be indoors, and growers can move up in size only at renewal after showing they meet state requirements.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. Rules and fees change, so confirm everything with the Montana Department of Revenue before you apply.

Sources

Last updated: October 2026. Laws and prices change; always check your state or provincial regulator.