East Orange, NJ Public Conduct: Public Marijuana Use (2026)

Section 198-6, Persons under influence of drugs or alcohol in public areas, was added to Chapter 198, Peace and Good Order, on September 25, 2017 by Ordinance No. 32-2017, and it replaced a former section on front-yard parking that had been repealed in 2015. Rather than banning possession or consumption outright, the section targets impairment: it is unlawful to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol in any public park, street or public place, but the City must prove the accused's mental or physical faculties were impaired to secure a conviction.

The section allows the City to meet that burden by showing the accused manifested physical and physiological symptoms or reactions caused by the substance, the same proof method the City's older drug-influence statute at Section 198-4 uses for prescription and non-narcotic drugs. Because Section 198-6 is not limited by drug type, it reaches marijuana impairment in public alongside the City's separate Chapter 120 cannabis licensing scheme, which regulates where licensed cannabis retailers may allow on-site consumption but does not itself set a public-consumption penalty; Section 198-6 is the operative citywide enforcement tool police use against visible public drug impairment, including from marijuana.