Warrick County, IN Public Conduct: Public Marijuana Use (2026)

Section 39.03(A) of the Warrick County Code defines SMOKING as "the inhaling, exhaling, burning, or carrying of any lighted or heated cigarette, cigar, pipe, electronic smoking device, or any other lighted or heated tobacco product or plant product intended for inhalation, including hookah and marijuana, in any manner or in any form." Because marijuana is folded directly into that definition, a person smoking marijuana in or within 30 feet of a county-owned or occupied facility, or on the stairways, ramps or sidewalks leading to one, is treated the same as a tobacco smoker under Section 39.03(B).

The ordinance's scope is narrow: it reaches county government buildings, the Judicial Center, the Board of Commissioners' offices and similar county-operated sites, not sidewalks, parks or business districts generally, so it functions as a facilities-access rule rather than a general public-marijuana ban. Enforcement runs through Warrick County elected officials, department heads, the Board of Commissioners, the County Administrator and the Warrick County Sheriff's deputies. The ordinance traces to a 1987 county resolution and has been amended by the Board of Commissioners five times, most recently in 2020, without narrowing the marijuana reference in the smoking definition.