Southfield, MI Public Conduct: Public Marijuana Use (2026)

Chapter 123, Section 9.391 defines marijuana or cannabis broadly, covering the Cannabis sativa L, Cannabis indica and Cannabis ruderalis species, their seeds and resin, and every compound or preparation derived from them, while excluding mature stalks, oil or cake made from the seeds, and sterilized seed incapable of germination. The section makes it unlawful for any person to possess, control, use, give away or sell marijuana in the city unless that conduct is authorized by a license, prescription or other legal exemption under Michigan's Public Health Code, Public Act 368 of 1978 (MCL 333.7101 to 333.7545).

The ordinance was adopted in 1981, decades before Michigan voters legalized adult-use marijuana in 2018, and its exemption clause still points only to the Public Health Code's license and prescription scheme rather than the state's later adult-use law. Section 9.392 separately makes it unlawful to knowingly keep or maintain any store, dwelling, vehicle, boat, aircraft or other place that people resort to for marijuana use, or that is used to store it. A defendant bears the burden of proving any license, prescription or exemption applies, though that burden does not shift the prosecution's burden to prove the underlying violation.

No liability attaches to a city officer engaged in the lawful performance of duty. Because the section reaches "use" anywhere in the city without carving out public versus private conduct, it is Southfield's operative local rule touching public marijuana consumption, layered on top of whatever the state's adult-use law separately permits or restricts.