La Plata County, CO Public Conduct: Public Marijuana Use (2026)

Section 38-5 of the La Plata County Code, Prohibited substances, is in Chapter 38 (Public Places) and governs county-owned property, not private land. Durango, Bayfield and Ignacio regulate their own limits, and tribal trust land answers to the Southern Ute Indian Tribe.

Subsection (I)(B) uses nine verbs: grow, produce, possess, display, transfer, distribute, sell, transport and use. Marijuana and marijuana-infused products are both named, so edibles and concentrates fall inside the clause along with flower. The ban is about location, not licensing status. The alcohol clause directly above it (I)(A) carries an exception for a permitted, authorized and approved event, but the marijuana clause prints no such exception and no permit route. A person carrying marijuana through a county building or across county land is within the prohibition as written, and so is someone consuming it there.

The next subsection, (I)(C), separately covers psilocybin, psilocyn and other natural medicine as defined by Colorado law. Regulated marijuana businesses are licensed under a different part of the code, Chapter 7, and that licensing does not change what Sec. 38-5 forbids on county property.

The Board of County Commissioners wrote the section under C.R.S. 18-9-117, 30-11-101 and 30-15-401. Subsection (II) tells the county manager to post notice of the prohibition on county property as deemed necessary or appropriate, following C.R.S. 18-9-117(2). Subsection (III) supplies the penalty. The section arrived with Ordinance No. 2025-01, dated 02/11/2025 and effective 2/14/2025.