Provo, UT Public Conduct: Public Marijuana Use (2026)

050 prohibits knowingly and intentionally possessing a controlled substance as defined in the Utah Controlled Substances Act, unless the substance was obtained through a valid prescription or order, or directly from a practitioner acting in the course of professional practice, or as otherwise authorized under Utah Code 58-37-8(c). Marijuana is a Schedule I controlled substance under the Utah Controlled Substances Act unless the possessor holds a valid medical cannabis card under the state's separate Medical Cannabis Act, so smoking, vaping or otherwise using marijuana in a park, on a sidewalk, at a BYU-area gathering or anywhere else in public falls squarely within this ban.

050(2) covers joint or individual ownership, control, occupancy, holding, retaining or obtaining of the substance, and a person can be convicted for jointly participating with others in possession even without proof they personally held the drug, which reaches shared blunts, group smoking circles and passenger possession in a vehicle. ) as part of the city code, giving Provo police and the city prosecutor's office authority to charge violations under municipal ordinance rather than routing every case through the county attorney. 010: a fine of up to $1,000, up to six months in the county jail, or both.

Officers responding to a complaint of public marijuana use typically seize the substance as evidence and issue a citation or make an arrest on the spot; there is no diversion program built into the municipal code itself.