Puerto Rico: Dispensary Licensing Reopens in 60 of 78 Municipalities

As of July 2026, Puerto Rico is issuing new dispensary licences again for the first time since 2022, but only in the parts of the island the regulator considers underserved. The Junta Reglamentadora de Cannabis Medicinal signed Resolution 2026-001 on 4 March 2026, following an ordinary meeting held on 26 February, partially lifting a licensing freeze that had held the market flat for four years.

What Resolution 2026-001 Does

The resolution reopens dispensary licensing in 60 of Puerto Rico’s 78 municipalities. The remaining 18 stay closed to new applicants through 28 February 2027. The regulator drew that line using two saturation measures: municipalities with a saturation index above three, and those with a Herfindahl-Hirschman Index score of 1,000 or higher, a standard concentration metric borrowed from antitrust analysis.

Cultivation did not get the same treatment. The Board extended the cultivation moratorium through 28 February 2027, citing adequate supply levels and installed capacity already in the system.

The decision rests on a market study the Board commissioned but has not released. The Junta completed its evaluation and deferred public disclosure pending what it described as an internal strategic analysis, which means applicants are working against saturation findings they cannot read.

The Market Behind the Decision

Puerto Rico’s registry is larger than the operating market suggests. As of 14 January 2025, the Department of Health counted 480 licences across the industry: 325 dispensaries, 78 cultivation, 39 manufacturing, 36 transport, one laboratory, and one research licence. Registered patients stood at 120,316 as of 25 November 2024, served by 125 licensed physicians.

The revenue trend explains the caution. El Nuevo Día reported that medical cannabis sales fell from $231 million in 2023 to $181 million in 2024. Dispensary sales specifically dropped from $106 million to $88 million over the same period. A licensing freeze paired with falling sales is why the Board is reopening selectively rather than across the board.

What This Means for Travelers

Nothing changes at the counter. Visitors with a valid medical cannabis card from a US state can still obtain a 30-day temporary card under Regulation 9038, and the partial Schedule III order that took effect in April did not alter the patient pathway.

The practical takeaway is about geography and reliability. New dispensaries are most likely to appear outside the saturated San Juan metro, in municipalities that have been underserved since the freeze. At the same time, a registry of 325 licensed dispensaries is not a promise of 325 open doors. With sales down roughly 22% between 2023 and 2024, some licensed locations have thinned out. Call ahead or check current hours before planning a trip around a specific dispensary, particularly outside the metro area.

What to Watch

The 28 February 2027 date governs both the 18 suspended municipalities and the cultivation moratorium, so the next real decision point falls early next year. The bigger open question is the market study. If the Junta releases it, applicants and existing operators will finally see the saturation math behind which municipalities opened and which stayed shut. Watch also for whether new dispensary licences issued under the reopening actually translate into storefronts, which is the test of whether the contraction has bottomed out.