Stearns County, MN Public Conduct: Public Marijuana Use (2026)

Section 17.4 of Stearns County's Parks Ordinance No. 696 closes out the ordinance's alcohol-tobacco-cannabis article by cross-referencing the county's separate cannabis ordinance rather than writing a freestanding park rule. It states that it is unlawful to use cannabis products in a public place, including parks, trails, public recreation areas, public streets or sidewalks, or any publicly owned property, as outlined in Stearns County Ordinance 654.4, Subd. 1. The effect for a park visitor is direct: every Stearns County park, trail, and preserve counts as a public place under that cross-referenced rule, so smoking, vaping, or otherwise consuming cannabis products there is prohibited the same as on a public sidewalk.

The rule sits alongside, but is separate from, the tobacco and e-cigarette free-zone authority in Section 17.3, which lets the Director post specific smoke-free boundaries within individual parks; the cannabis ban in Section 17.4 is not zone-dependent and applies parkwide by cross-reference to Ordinance 654.4 rather than by posted signage. Because Section 17.4 incorporates the county's general public-use cannabis ordinance, enforcement authority for the public-use offense itself runs through Ordinance 654.4's own enforcement section, though park staff and the Stearns County Sheriff who patrol under Section 20.2 can also cite a violation occurring on park property under 17.4.