OC Wrestling With Including Pot In Smoking Ordinance

OCEAN CITY — With the relaxing of marijuana laws in recent years, coupled with the proliferation of legal medical marijuana dispensary outlets in the area, resort officials are wrestling with how to fit weed into the town’s smoking ordinance.

A few years back, Ocean City passed an ordinance banning smoking in most public areas, particularly on the beach and Boardwalk, except within 15 feet of designated smoking areas. The smoking ordinance has met with varying results and enforcement has increased for the most part although challenges remain in some areas.

Now, with the decriminalization of marijuana to essentially a civil citation for the most part on amounts considered personal use, combined with the proliferation of legal medical marijuana dispensaries including a couple just across the bridge in West Ocean City, pot smokers are becoming increasingly emboldened to light up in public places where it would be prohibited, or even illegal, just a year or so ago.

The challenge for Ocean City is to figure out how to fit marijuana smoking neatly into the town’s smoking ordinance. It’s an issue that began last week at the police commission and continued this week at the Mayor and Council meeting. Councilman Dennis Dare, who chairs the police commission, brought his colleagues up to speed on the issue.

“We had a long discussion about this,” he said. “The fine for smoking marijuana is $50, but the fine for smoking on the Boardwalk is $100. The city manager and the solicitor are going to meet with the chief and possibly amend the smoking ordinance to include marijuana.”

Councilman Matt James questioned if the current ordinance applied specifically to tobacco in the form of cigarettes, cigars and vaping, or if there was a broader definition that included smoking in general.

“Does the current ordinance specify cigarettes and cigars, or is it smoking in general?” he said.

Ocean City Police Department (OCPD) Chief Ross Buzzuro said the current ordinance as written and enforced, did not include marijuana.

“It’s tobacco products, including smoking and vaping, but the buzz word is tobacco,” he said.

James suggested the code could be amended to include all smoking under the same umbrella.

“We could probably change the ordinance to just smoking and that would cover everything,” he said. “Wouldn’t it be easier to just say smoking?”

City Manager Doug Miller said he is working with the chief and City Solicitor Guy Ayres on crafting new language to include marijuana.

“We are working on a code analysis that we’re taking to the chief and the city solicitor, but one of the things they have to address is changing the definition to include marijuana as a definition of smoking,” he said.

Miller said there could be challenges to writing citations for marijuana smoking in public places under the current ordinance.

“When we get to court, we don’t want some loophole,” he said. “We want to define everything that could be considered smoking including tobacco, vaping and marijuana use.”

Councilman Wayne Hartman said the ordinance could be crafted to include all types of smoking.

“My thought is maybe we include vegetative substances,” he said. “Most things that can be smoked are grown, so that could cover it. It could be an amendment to the existing ordinance and maybe we can increase the fine based on the offensiveness of the odor.”

For his part, Ayres said the issue essentially boils down to how smoking of any substance impacts those around it.

“I think what you want to do is amend our no smoking in public ordinance to include marijuana because that is an environmental issue,” he said. “It really has to do with the environmental issue of secondary smoke.”

Ayres and Miller are going to continue to work on new smoking ordinance language and bring proposed changes back to the full Mayor and Council.

About The Author: Shawn Soper

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Shawn Soper has been with The Dispatch since 2000. He began as a staff writer covering various local government beats and general stories. His current positions include managing editor and sports editor. Growing up in Baltimore before moving to Ocean City full time three decades ago, Soper graduated from Loch Raven High School in 1981 and from Towson University in 1985 with degrees in mass communications with a journalism concentration and history.