Somerset County, NJ Public Conduct: Public Alcohol Use (2026)

Section 5(b)(7), Liquor or Drugs, sets three separate prohibitions in one clause: "No person shall drink, take, use or have in their possession any intoxicating liquors within a Park. No Person shall take, use or have in their possession any opiates or narcotics with a Park. " The first sentence covers drinking and simple possession of liquor, so a closed bottle in a cooler at a picnic is enough to violate it, not just an open container being consumed. The third sentence goes further than possession: it bars entry or continued presence by anyone who is visibly intoxicated, regardless of whether they are actively drinking in the park at that moment.

Glass containers get a separate, related restriction at Section 5(b)(15): no glass bottles or glass containers may be brought into park and recreation areas at all "except upon special written permission of the Commission," which closes off bringing wine or beer in glass bottles even where alcohol itself might otherwise be tolerated at a permitted event. A Commission-approved event permit under Section 7 does not by itself waive the liquor ban; any alcohol service at a permitted event requires its own separate written Commission approval beyond the standard event Permit.