Last verified: May 2026
Jackson — Teton County
Jackson is Wyoming’s most affluent and most-progressive small city, with a 2024 population estimate of approximately 10,800. The city sits in Teton County (population ~24,000) in northwestern Wyoming, ~10 miles south of Grand Teton National Park and ~57 miles south of the Yellowstone south entrance. Jackson’s economy is dominated by tourism, hospitality, finance (Jackson Hole has become a private-wealth-management hub), and outdoor recreation.
Teton County Voting Pattern
Teton County is one of only two Wyoming counties Joe Biden carried in 2020 (alongside Albany County), with Biden taking approximately 67% to Trump’s 30%. Teton County polling on cannabis reform consistently shows substantial majority support — but the county’s small electorate means it cannot compensate for low-population conservative-county opposition under the WY ballot-petition geographic-distribution rule.
Jackson Cross-Border Reality
Jackson is a hard cross-border town: Idaho (full prohibition) is immediately west across the Teton Pass; Utah (medical-only) is south. The closest legal-rec dispensaries from Jackson are:
- Driggs / Victor, ID: ~25 miles west via Teton Pass, but Idaho is full-prohibition (no dispensaries).
- Idaho Falls, ID: ~90 miles southwest, but Idaho is full-prohibition.
- Bozeman, MT: ~180 miles north via US-191 (through Yellowstone NP), legal-rec.
- Salt Lake City, UT: ~280 miles south via US-89 / I-80, medical-only with strict patient-card requirements.
Jackson’s cross-border options are the most constrained of any Wyoming city. The drive to Bozeman through Yellowstone National Park traverses federal land where cannabis possession is a federal misdemeanor regardless of state law.
Cody — Park County
Cody is the eastern Yellowstone gateway, with a 2024 population estimate of approximately 10,000. The city sits in Park County (population ~30,000) in northwestern Wyoming, ~52 miles east of the Yellowstone east entrance via US-14/16/20. Cody’s economy is dominated by Yellowstone tourism, the Buffalo Bill Center of the West (a complex of five museums), and ranching/agriculture.
Cody as SF 32 Catalyst
Wyoming SF 32 (the 2024 hemp-intoxicant ban) was reportedly catalyzed in part by Cody-area student illness reports involving delta-8 THC products. Park County legislators were among SF 32’s sponsors. The Cody experience demonstrated how local concerns can drive statewide hemp-restriction legislation. See SF 32 page.
Bennett Sondeno & Wyoming NORML
Bennett Sondeno, director of Wyoming NORML, is based in Cody. Sondeno led the 2024 ballot-petition organizing effort and continues advocating for legislative reform. The Cody cannabis-policy split — SF 32 sponsors and a NORML director from the same city — mirrors the broader WY pattern of intense local disagreement.
Carrie Satterwhite
Carrie Satterwhite, a Park County organizer, was a principal field organizer for the 2024 ballot petitions and remains active in the WY cannabis-reform coalition.
Sheridan — Sheridan County
Sheridan, in the northern WY foothills of the Bighorn Mountains, has a population of approximately 20,000. The city sits in Sheridan County (population ~31,000) on the I-90 corridor between Buffalo and Montana. Sheridan’s economy involves coal-mining (Powder River Basin overlap), railroads (BNSF), agriculture/ranching, healthcare, and tourism.
Sheridan Cross-Border Reality
Sheridan-to-Billings, MT is ~130 miles via I-90 (~2 hours). Sheridan residents are the principal northern-WY Montana cross-border traffic. The I-90 corridor between Sheridan and the Montana state line carries substantial WHP K-9 interdiction activity. See Montana cross-border page.
Sen. Bo Biteman’s Senate District 21
Sheridan is in Senate District 21, the home district of Senate President Bo Biteman. Sheridan voters have consistently elected Biteman, who announced his March 2026 candidacy for Wyoming’s at-large U.S. House seat. The political alignment of the SD 21 electorate with anti-reform leadership represents a structural barrier to cannabis-reform advocacy in northern Wyoming.
Yellowstone National Park — 4,744,353 Visitors in 2024
Yellowstone National Park, the world’s first national park (established 1872), spans approximately 2.2 million acres across northwestern Wyoming, southern Montana, and eastern Idaho. The park drew 4,744,353 visitors in 2024 per National Park Service statistics. Cannabis possession on federal land — including all of Yellowstone NP — is a federal misdemeanor under 21 U.S.C. § 844 regardless of state law. Park rangers and the U.S. Park Police enforce federal law.
The federal-land overlay makes Yellowstone a particularly delicate cannabis-jurisdictional zone. A visitor driving from Bozeman, MT (legal-rec) into the north entrance of Yellowstone immediately becomes subject to federal jurisdiction. The same applies for Grand Teton NP, the Bighorn National Forest, and the Bridger-Teton National Forest — all of which see high tourist visitation.
The Northwest WY Cannabis Reality
Northwest Wyoming’s cannabis-policy landscape is shaped by:
- Tourism dominance — visitors from cannabis-legal jurisdictions arrive every day, often unaware of WY full prohibition.
- Federal-land overlay — ~48% of Wyoming is federal land; in northwest WY the share is much higher (Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Shoshone NF, Bridger-Teton NF).
- Cross-border constraint — ID and UT are restrictive; MT is the only meaningful adult-use neighbor.
- Local political diversity — Teton County is solidly Democratic / pro-reform; Park County is split (NORML + SF 32 sponsors); Sheridan County is solidly Republican / anti-reform.
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Related on this site: Cannabis in Casper & Laramie Wyoming, Cannabis in Cheyenne Wyoming & F...., Send a Message.