Pope County, AR Public Conduct: Outdoor Smoking Restrictions (2026)

Pope County Code § 230.08, first adopted as Ordinance 2009-019 on May 7, 2009 and amended by Ordinance 2014-050 on November 6, 2014, prohibits smoking, the use of tobacco or tobacco products, and the use of e-cigarettes in every building and vehicle the county owns. The section defines an e-cigarette as an electronic oral device with a heating element, battery and electronic circuit that vaporizes nicotine or another substance to simulate smoking, whether marketed as an e-cigarette, e-cigar or e-pipe. The ban reaches courthouse offices, the jail, the library, county vehicles and any other county-owned facility in unincorporated Pope County, and it goes further than the walls: designated smoking areas must sit at least fifty feet from any door of a county-owned building, so employees and visitors cannot simply step onto the porch to light up.

The rule folded e-cigarettes into the ban five years after the original 2009 ordinance, once vaping became common. Because § 230.08 does not set its own fine, a violation falls back on the Code's general penalty clause at § 100.99: a fine of up to $500 for a single violation, doubling to $1,000 for a repeat offense, or up to $250 per day if the violation is continuous. The rule applies only to county-owned property, not to private businesses, restaurants or bars in unincorporated Pope County, and it does not reach the incorporated cities of Russellville, Atkins, Dover, Pottsville, London or Hector, each of which sets its own policy for buildings within its own limits.