Murrieta, CA Public Conduct: Public Marijuana Use (2026)

01 on consumption and possession of alcohol or other intoxicating substances, targets marijuana and other controlled substances by name. Subsection A makes it unlawful to consume, within any public place or business in the city, on the grounds of any public or private park, recreation area, open space, or school, or in public parking, loading, or access areas accessible to the public, or on private or commercial property open to the public, any non-alcoholic intoxicating substance possessed for the purpose of intoxication or any illegal or controlled substance, including marijuana.

Subsection B goes further and criminalizes mere possession in those same locations of any instrument used to administer or ingest an intoxicating or controlled substance, expressly naming marijuana pipes or similar smoking devices and drug paraphernalia generally. 030, spells out how officers determine 'consumption': the totality of circumstances including an officer's observation, admissions, odors, chemical test results, other objective symptoms of intoxication, or the presence and control of open containers or ingestion instruments. Because the ordinance is written to reach both use and possession of paraphernalia in the enumerated public and quasi-public spaces, it functions as a broad public-consumption ban that predates and sits alongside state cannabis law rather than displacing local enforcement of on-street or in-park use.