As RI communities consider banning public pot consumption, others say the laws go too far

The local American Civil Liberties Union says at least five Rhode Island communities are considering, or have already approved, ordinances that ban marijuana use in public places that exceed what state law allows.

The 2022 state law that legalized recreational marijuana gave communities authority to only ban “the smoking or vaporizing of cannabis in public places,” the ACLU says.

But ordinances in at least Providence, Westerly, Cranston, Narragansett and Burrillville include such phrases as “any and all” cannabis use, which would also include the common practices of ingesting cannabis-laced gummies and drinks.

Steven Brown, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island, says such ordinances are unlawful as written and are the kind of overstep that could potentially lead to unwarranted police confrontations.

“We think the statute is very clear,” said Brown. “Municipalities can ban smoking and vaping in public – period. It’s a matter of holding municipalities to the authority that the General Assembly has given them.”

The ACLU and the Black Lives Matter RI PAC are now asking the state Cannabis Control Commission to advise all Rhode Island communities that “any efforts to ban public use of cannabis beyond the explicit statutory restrictions governing smoking and vaping are unlawful.”

In a letter to the commission last month, the groups said any broader ordinances “authorizes the scenario of police stops and searches of an individual on the street based solely on the belief that they are under the influence of cannabis, and thus may be 'using' (or 'consuming') cannabis in public.”

Do the ordinances go beyond state law?

In Narragansett, an amended ordinance approved by the Town Council in 2022 to ban cannabis use on town property defined cannabis products as: “products that have been manufactured and contain cannabis or an extract from cannabis, including concentrated forms of cannabis and products composed of cannabis and other ingredients that are intended for use or consumption.”

The ordinance's language explaining the prohibition, however, seems targeted toward smoking and vaping. It reads: “Smoking or vaporizing and use of tobacco and/or cannabis products prohibited during youth events held at town athletic and recreational facilities, on all Town of Narragansett owned property and at other designated public places."

Town Manager James R. Tierney says the ordinance’s intent was simply to mirror the nicotine prohibitions on town property already on the books.

He couldn’t recall whether there were any discussions at the time over whether the ordinance went beyond what the state law allows.

In Providence, a similar amendment to an ordinance targeting tobacco products passed in 2022, also bans all cannabis products in all city parks, playgrounds and recreational centers.

Its definition of cannabis products includes: “edible products, beverages, topical products, ointments, oils and tinctures.”

At a Westerly Town Council meeting last month, Town Solicitor William Conley told the board the state law “does not prohibit you from also addressing cannabis use on playgrounds through edibles as well ... and that's our response to the ACLU.”

ACLU: Marginalized communities bear the brunt of ordinances

Brown and the Black Lives Matter RI PAC called Conley’s interpretation of the state law “extremely troubling.”

In their letter to the Cannabis Control Commission, they said, “Our organizations have absolutely no doubt who will bear the brunt of an ordinance, if vigorously enforced, that bans the use of any cannabis in public. It is the same class of people who were victimized by the drug laws that the Cannabis Act replaced.”

“The General Assembly very clearly and deliberately specified vaping and smoking in public as the narrow conduct that municipalities could address,” the groups said. "More to the point, such a ban also fits in with public health concerns regarding second-hand smoke that often drives these prohibitions [on public property], which are simply not present with ‘uses’ of cannabis.”

Unlike Westerly, the Glocester Town Council last year, on the advice of its solicitor, revised its proposed cannabis ordinance after being alerted by the ACLU, the letter says. The initial proposal banned the “consumption” of cannabis in public. The revised ordinance, the ACLU says, targets only smoking and vaping.

More: Did Smithfield police lie about a confidential informant to raid a pot grow? A jury will decide.

The Cannabis Control Commission is reviewing the letter the ACLU sent but as of earlier this week there were no plans to include it on the commission’s Friday meeting agenda, a spokesman said.

Rhode Island saw more than $10 million in marijuana sales last month for the first time since recreational sales began in December 2022. Of that total $7.8 million was in recreational sales; $2.4 million in medical marijuana sales.

Contact Tom Mooney at: tmooney@providencejournal.com

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: RI communities ban public pot consumption, despite legalization