Cathedral City, CA Public Conduct: Public Marijuana Use (2026)

Section 13.80.240(F) of the Cathedral City Municipal Code prohibits smoking, as defined in Health and Safety Code Section 11362.3(b), or ingesting cannabis or cannabis products in a public place. The sentence names streets, sidewalks and parks, and it extends to the common areas of a residential development: private streets and sidewalks, common parking areas, and parks or other spaces maintained by a homeowners or property owners association and accessible to residents. In Cathedral City, a community's shared parking area is treated like a city sidewalk for this rule.

Subsection G adds a second trigger: smoking cannabis or cannabis products in any location where smoking tobacco is prohibited. Subsection H protects schools. Possessing, smoking or ingesting cannabis in or upon the grounds of a school, day care center or youth center while children are present is unlawful, and so is smoking within one thousand feet of one while children are present. The one exception is smoking in or upon the grounds of a private residence, and only if the smoking is not detectable by others on the grounds of the school, day care center or youth center.

Every item in § 13.80.240 is declared unlawful and a public nuisance subject to Chapter 13.90. That chapter lets a code compliance officer or other authorized agent issue a notice of public nuisance and order to abate (§ 13.90.010) and sets the administrative fines (§ 13.90.015). Consumption inside a licensed business is a separate matter: § 5.88.070 allows a dispensary to host smoking, vaporizing or ingesting on its licensed premises under its own regulations, limited to product purchased from that dispensary during the same visit. Public places outside a licensed dispensary fall under § 13.80.240(F).