Lee County, NC Public Conduct: Public Alcohol Use (2026)

Sec. 18-37(a), part of the 'Nuisances' section of the county's general parks article, bans the possession and/or consumption of alcoholic beverages or other intoxicating beverages in any Lee County park, and separately bans inhaling or ingesting illicit drugs into the body in any manner. The rule applies to every park operated by the county's parks and recreation department, from neighborhood athletic fields like Horton Park and Buchanan Park to San-Lee Park itself. San-Lee Park's own article duplicates the restriction at Sec. 18-63(1)(f), which bars anyone in the park from consuming alcoholic beverages or inhaling or taking illicit drugs into the body.

Neither section carves out an exception for permitted events or reserved shelters; the ban applies park-wide regardless of whether the area has been rented under Sec. 18-35(h)'s reservation and permit process. Sec. 18-37 sits alongside related nuisance bans on fireworks, uncontrolled domestic animals and disorderly conduct, all enforced the same way. A violation of any provision in the general parks article, including the alcohol and drug ban, subjects the offender to a $100.00 civil penalty under Sec. 18-32 and/or expulsion from the park; at San-Lee Park the parallel penalty in Sec.

18-62 applies instead. The Lee County Code does not include a broader, countywide open-container ordinance covering streets, sidewalks or private property in unincorporated Lee County outside park boundaries: this restriction is limited to county park grounds.