Middletown, OH Public Conduct: Public Marijuana Use (2026)

Section 624.21 adopts Ohio's adult-use cannabis framework as city ordinance. Division (a) lets an adult use consumer use, possess, and transfer without payment, or transport, adult use cannabis, and purchase it from a licensed dispensary. Division (b)(1) caps lawful possession at two and one-half ounces of cannabis in any form other than extract, or fifteen grams of extract, with the same caps applied to transfers made without payment and to transport under divisions (b)(2) and (b)(3).

Division (d) restricts cannabis and vehicles specifically: division (d)(1) bars operating a vehicle, motor vehicle, streetcar, trackless trolley, bike, watercraft, or aircraft while using or under the influence of cannabis, subjecting the operator to R.C. § 4511.19 or an equivalent municipal OVI ordinance. Division (d)(2) separately bars smoking, vaporizing, or otherwise using a combustible cannabis product while riding in or on any of those conveyances, again subject to R.C. § 4511.19 or its municipal equivalent.

Division (h), titled Penalties, ties the public-use rule directly to that vehicle restriction: division (h)(2) states that, except as R.C. Chapter 3780 otherwise provides, an adult use consumer who uses adult use cannabis in public areas, or who violates division (d)(2) as a passenger, is guilty of a minor misdemeanor. Possessing more than the division (b)(1) limits is instead charged under R.C. § 2925.11 or its municipal equivalent per division (h)(1), a separate and potentially more serious offense than simple public use. The section also penalizes underage consumers who present false identification to a dispensary, with fines up to $1,000 and license suspensions for repeat offenses under division (h)(3).