Boulder, CO Public Conduct: Public Marijuana Use (2026)

Section 5-10-2's 'in public' definition is broader than a simple street ban. It reaches three settings: any public way or right-of-way, including inside a vehicle parked or driving there; any property or building that is owned, leased, used by, or open to the public, which covers city parks, municipal buildings, and businesses during their open hours; and portions of private property where the public has an express or implied license to enter, such as a store's customer parking lot or a restaurant patio, even though the underlying land is privately owned.

Subsection (c) adds a driving-specific offense: no person may drive, or sit in the driver's seat of, a motor vehicle in which someone is unlawfully consuming marijuana under Subsection (a), unless the vehicle is licensed to carry passengers for hire, such as a taxi or rideshare vehicle. This section sits in Chapter 5-10, Marijuana Offenses, alongside § 5-10-3, which bars selling, serving, or giving marijuana to anyone under 21, and § 5-10-4, which separately criminalizes possession and consumption by anyone under 21 with its own evidentiary and immunity provisions for a person who calls 911 to get medical help for someone who over-consumed.

Boulder enacted the public-consumption ban, along with the rest of Chapter 5-10, after Colorado voters legalized recreational marijuana under Article XVIII, Section 16 of the state constitution, which itself allows local governments to prohibit public consumption.