Aliso Viejo, CA Public Conduct: Public Marijuana Use (2026)

The rule sits in Chapter 15.40, Marijuana (Cannabis) Regulation, inside the Aliso Viejo zoning code, and not in the public-peace title. Section 15.40.010 states that the chapter regulates personal, medical, and commercial marijuana uses and that nothing in it preempts or makes inapplicable any provision of state or federal law.

The operative sentence is AVMC 15.40.020(A). It treats personal recreational use, possession, purchase, transport, or dissemination of marijuana as unlawful in all areas of the city. The wording draws no line between private property and public places, so a sidewalk, a park, a parking lot and a private home all fall inside the phrase all areas of the city. The limit is built into the same sentence: the declaration applies only to the fullest extent that California law and federal law allow, so the city's text reaches as far as higher law lets a city go and no further.

The same section closes the cultivation route. Subsection (B) bars planting, cultivating, harvesting, drying, or processing marijuana plants outdoors in any zoning district, and subsection (C) bars the same activities indoors inside a private residence, an accessory structure, or any other enclosed structure. Where California law does not allow a complete indoor ban, subsection (C)(2) requires an indoor cultivation permit from the planning division, an affirmation under penalty of perjury on the application, and an agreement to indemnify and defend the city. No indoor permit can issue until the planning department releases its application and processing guidelines.

Enforcement runs through Section 15.40.050, covered below. Policing in the City of Aliso Viejo is contracted to the Orange County Sheriff's Department, and Planning Services runs code enforcement, so the same chapter supports both a criminal charge and a nuisance abatement.