2025 Legislative Updates: New Cannabis Laws in Montana
May 20, 2025Are you curious if any new or amended laws were passed during Montana’s 2025 legislative session that will affect cannabis regulation?
Seven bills were passed that included regulatory additions, clarifying details, language related to licensing, deadlines, packaging and labeling, moratorium, and synthetic cannabinoids.
The following summary is a high-level overview only and is not an all-inclusive list of the laws. Once the bills are made law and the chapters are updated, all legislative changes will be available at MCA: Marijuana Regulation and Taxation. Read on for a summary of the changes and additions for each bill.
Important: Deadline to Apply for a New Licensed Location
Senate Bill 27 takes effect July 1, 2025, and freezes the footprint of the legal marijuana industry.
Applications to add additional licensed locations must be complete by 6/30/25 to move forward. Incomplete applications will be denied starting 7/1/25.
To avoid delays, submit applications by June 20, 2025 so the TAP system can process payment in time.
What’s considered a complete application?
Per 42.39.106 (3), the definition of a complete application is:
Applications completed by 7/1/25 will be issued a conditional license, pending inspection.
Questions? Call (406) 444-0596.
Status: Passed and signed by the Governor on May 5, 2025.
Effective Date: July 1, 2025
Key Provisions of SB 27:
- Extends the existing moratorium on new marijuana licenses until June 30, 2027:
- Business applications are only permitted if they are related to an existing premise.
- An existing premises may move/transfer its location.
- Does not allow for additional premises; also referred to as “Freeze the Footprint.”
- July 1, 2027, the moratorium on additional licenses ceases.
- Removes the former/non-former medical marijuana distinction for licensees but maintains Montana’s red and green counties:
- All dispensaries in green counties may sell medical and adult-use marijuana and marijuana products.
- Red counties are permitted to continue to make medical sales only at their dispensaries.
Status: Passed and signed by the Governor on May 8, 2025.
Effective upon Passage and Approval:
- The state-issued marijuana tax is now based on the retail price after discounts/promotions.
Effective Date: October 1, 2025:
- Definition updates, financial interest, and third-party relationships:
- 16-12-102 (7)(b) – has been eliminated – third-party relationship exclusion is no longer applicable; third-party relationships are/can be controlling beneficial owners.
- 16-12-102 (13)(b) – possessing a financial interest now includes holders of private loans or convertible securities**
- 16-12-203 (7)(a-b) – third parties can perform all work types, but the licensee is responsible for compliance and liable for all violations.
- Complaints submitted to the department via the Montana Cannabis Control Division Hotline are confidential and not subject to public disclosure unless or until authorized by a district court on a written finding that the demands of individual privacy do not clearly exceed the merits of public disclosure or are confidential criminal justice information pursuant to Title 44, chapter 5.
- Manufacturer tiers are per license: Tiers are based on the total amount of concentrate produced by the licensee; they are not determined by each premise.
- $5,000 for less than 1 pound of concentrate and up to 10 pounds of concentrate
- $10,000 between 10 pounds of concentrate and 15 pounds of concentrate
- $20,000 for 15 pounds or more of concentrate.
- (±)10% delta-9 THC deviation is permitted for marijuana-infused ingestibles, non-ingestible marijuana-infused products (e.g., topicals), and marijuana concentrates and extracts.
- This deviation is not permitted for marijuana flower (adult-use is capped at 35% Total THC for marijuana flower).
- Clarifies third-party contractual relationships:
- Expands the ability to have contractual relationships for selling marijuana and marijuana products rather than just cultivating and manufacturing. Only another licensee may be contracted to process, cultivate, or sell marijuana and marijuana products.
- Third parties are allowed to perform work on behalf of a licensee, but they must have a valid Montana marijuana worker permit prior to commencing any work on behalf of the licensee.
- Requires the disclosure of third-party relationships and clarifies that the licensee is responsible for the third party’s compliance and liable for their violation.
** This was already present in statute but was moved; clarified
Status: Passed and signed by the Governor on April 7, 2025.
Effective on Passage and Approval
Key Provisions of HB 49:
- Definition update: changes references from 'synthetic marijuana' to 'synthetic cannabinoid'.
- Adds rulemaking authority for "implementation of the state's ban on synthetic. cannabinoids and synthetic cannabinoid products, including but not limited to identifying what constitutes a synthetic cannabinoid and identifying the process by which synthetic cannabinoids are made".
- Additions, Limitations/Prohibitions:
- Adds storage to the list of prohibitions on synthetic cannabinoids.
- Adds 'synthetic cannabinoid products' to the list of items prohibited for sale in adult-use dispensaries.
- Enforcement:
- Modifications to enforcement/investigation authority - changes authority from 'inspect' to 'investigate' [any business to] 'determine whether it is engaged in' [unlawful activity].
Status: Passed and signed by the Governor on April 17, 2025.
Effective on Passage and Approval
Key Provisions of SB 11:
- This bill modifies the process by which citizens can initiate local ballot initiatives and the language that appears on the resulting ballot. By current law, local governments can hold elections to:
- Opt in/out of allowing adult-use marijuana businesses;
- Allow/disallow specific CCD license types, or;
- Enact local option taxes on medical marijuana, adult-use marijuana, or both.
Status: Passed and signed by the Governor on May 5, 2025.
Effective on Passage and Approval
Key Provisions of SB 375:
- Unless authorized as a food or drug by the United States Food & Drug Administration, a hemp product containing total delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) may not be sold to a consumer in the state.
- This bill is codified under Title 50, and under the authority of the Montana Department of Health & Human Services.
Status: Passed and signed by the Governor on May 8, 2025.
Effective Date: July 1, 2026
Key Provisions of HB 636:
- Amends a single (1) package of ingestible-infused marijuana product to contain a maximum of 100 mg delta-9 THC, while a single serving is now limited to 5 mg delta-9 THC (± 10% deviation is still applicable).
Status: Passed and signed by the Governor on May 8, 2025.
Effective Date: July 1, 2026
Key Provisions of HB 792:
- Updates required warning statements; adds an addiction resource link that must be printed on all exit packaging.
- Dispensaries must display new consumer education posters (at any point of sale) with warning messages, the universal warning symbol, and website address, phone number, and QR code with an available resource for overcoming marijuana addiction.