Washington, DC Public Conduct: Public Alcohol Use (2026)

C. Code § 25-1001(a) lists six specific places where drinking or open-container possession is banned: streets, alleys, parks, sidewalks, and parking areas; vehicles on any street, alley, park, or parking area; unlicensed premises selling food or nonalcoholic drinks or offering paid entertainment; any place inviting the public without a District alcohol license; a licensed premises when sales are prohibited by title or regulation at that time; and a club-licensed premises when on-site consumption is prohibited by title or regulation. Subsection (b) carves out a narrow exemption: the ban on drinking in a vehicle or on a street, alley, park, or parking area does not apply to a structure that is an integral, structural part of a private residence and projects onto the parking area, such as a front porch, terrace, bay window, or vault, when the owner or resident permits the drinking.

Subsection (c) separately prohibits intoxication, in or on public or private property, where the person endangers his or her own safety or that of another person or property; simple intoxication that is not dangerous is not a crime under this section. Instead, subsection (e) directs that a person who is intoxicated in public but not endangering anyone or anything be treated under Chapter 6 of Title 24, the District's civil detoxification and treatment provisions, rather than prosecuted. This section sits in Chapter 10 of Title 25, the Alcoholic Beverage Control title's limitations on consumers, and is enforced separately from the licensing and sales rules that govern retailers and bars elsewhere in Title 25.