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

Newark's rule sits in § 624.20, Adult Use Cannabis Control; Limitations on Conduct by Individuals, in the drug chapter of the Codified Ordinances enacted by Newark City Council. Division (a) begins by allowing an adult use consumer, subject to R.C. Chapter 3780, to use adult use cannabis, to possess, transfer without remuneration to another adult consumer, or transport it, and to purchase it from an adult use dispensary. That permission has limits, and public use is the first one.

Division (h)(2) provides that, except as otherwise provided in R.C. Chapter 3780, 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. Division (d)(2) prohibits smoking, vaporizing, or using any other combustible adult use cannabis product while in a vehicle, motor vehicle, streetcar, trackless trolley, bike, watercraft, or aircraft. Division (d)(1) separately prohibits operating any of those vehicles, or a bike, while using adult use cannabis or while under the influence of it. Both divisions point to R.C. § 4511.19 or a substantially equivalent municipal ordinance for the penalty.

Possession limits apply even where use is allowed. Division (b)(1) caps what an adult use consumer can possess at two and one-half ounces of adult use cannabis in any form except adult use extract, and fifteen grams in the form of adult use extract. Division (h)(1) provides that R.C. § 2925.11 or a substantially equivalent municipal ordinance applies when someone possesses more than those amounts.

Under-21 rules are separate. Division (e) bars an individual under 21 from showing or giving false information about name, age, or identification to buy at a licensed dispensary, and division (g) makes it unlawful for a parent or guardian to knowingly permit a residence, other private property, or a vehicle under their control to be used by an underage invitee in a way that violates R.C. Chapter 3780. The Newark Division of Police enforces these rules inside the city limits. Heath, Granville, Newark Township and unincorporated Licking County are separate jurisdictions.