York County, VA Public Conduct: Public Marijuana Use (2026)

Sec. 17-51, "Controlled substances," follows the alcohol rule in Sec. 17-50 within Article IV, Division 1 of Chapter 17, the personal-conduct division of York County, Virginia's public-areas code. It has three parallel bans: subsection (a) prohibits consuming any controlled substance, as defined by the Code of Virginia, while in a public area unless the consumption is expressly authorized by law; subsection (b) separately prohibits possessing any controlled substance there under the same authorized-by-law exception; and subsection (c) prohibits being under the influence of any controlled substance while in a public area, unless the substance was administered pursuant to applicable law.

Because marijuana remains a controlled substance under the Code of Virginia's Drug Control Act even though state law allows limited private possession by adults, this local rule reaches marijuana consumption, possession and impairment in county public areas, parks, beaches, the library, the courthouse and school grounds among them, per the Sec. 17-2 definition. "Public area" enforcement follows the same chapter-wide structure as the neighboring alcohol and fireworks rules: Sec. 17-4 supplies the default penalty since Sec. 17-51 sets none of its own, and Sec. 17-3(a) lets the appropriate governing official eject a violator from the area regardless of any separate criminal charge under state drug law.