Coon Rapids, MN Public Conduct: Public Marijuana Use (2026)

Chapter 7-800 of Title 7 was added after Minnesota's 2023 cannabis legalization law, Minn. Stat. Section 152.063, Subdivision 5, gave cities authority to set a petty misdemeanor for cannabis use in public places. Section 7-801 states the City Council's purpose: protecting residents and visitors from secondhand smoke, vapor and aerosols and limiting the public-safety impact of intoxicated individuals. Section 7-802 then bans using cannabis flower, cannabis products, lower-potency hemp edibles and hemp-derived consumer products, as those terms are defined in Minn. Stat. Section 342.01, in public places anywhere in the City.

The ordinance's definition of public places is broad, covering all areas within the City boundaries, but it carves out three settings where consumption stays legal: private residences, including their curtilage and yard; private property not generally open to the public, unless the owner has explicitly barred cannabis use there; and the premises of an establishment or event licensed to permit onsite consumption. That last exception matters because Coon Rapids separately regulates cannabinoid businesses under Title 5, Chapter 5-3100, so a licensed consumption lounge or event can legally allow what the street-level ban prohibits everywhere else.

Section 7-803 sets the penalty at a petty misdemeanor, the same low-level classification the Code uses for public urination and dog-at-large violations. Coon Rapids Police enforce the ban citywide, including on the trail system around Coon Rapids Dam Regional Park and Bunker Hills Regional Park.