This KC-area city is considering a crackdown on public marijuana use
Independence residents could soon face harsher penalties for consuming marijuana in public as the city cracks down on public intoxication.
City council members heard a proposal Monday night to modify the section of the Independence City Code restricting and criminalizing the ways that residents purchase, transport and consume cannabis.
Under the proposed addition, consuming marijuana in “any location accessible to the general public” would be banned.
Councilmembers approved the first reading of the proposed bill this week unanimously and without discussion. It will appear before the council again at a future meeting before potentially taking effect citywide.
It’s legal to use marijuana recreationally in Missouri, but individual counties and cities — like Independence — can pass their own laws dictating where it can be consumed.
However, the proposed new addition could be redundant to existing state law regulating public use of marijuana, said Jack Cardetti, a spokesperson for the Missouri Cannabis Trade Association.
“That’s already law in Missouri, unless a local government wants to allow for public consumption,” Cardetti said. Current state law designates public consumption as a civil penalty subject to a $100 fine.
The Independence city code currently regulates how much marijuana residents can carry on their person without facing legal consequences (3 ounces or less), as well as how many marijuana plants (six each of three different types) can be kept by licensed growers.
Marijuana-specific restrictions in the city code were voted into effect in April 2023, months after the state of Missouri voted to legalize recreational use.
The proposed bill did not specify what legal consequences could be applied to residents caught smoking marijuana in public spaces. Similar violations are currently assigned a fine of either $250 or $500 under the current Independence city code.
At least four marijuana dispensaries are currently operating in the city. Independence currently collects a 3% sales tax on medical and recreational marijuana purchased within city limits. The tax revenue funds police, fire, animal control, ambulance dispatch and other emergency services.
Stricter city policies
Monday’s vote is one of several ways that city leaders have been using ordinances to restrict the use of controlled substances around Independence in recent months.
In late 2025, the city declined to take advantage of a state bill that would allow expanded hours of operation for businesses with liquor licenses during the 2026 World Cup.
The Missouri legislature passed a bill in August allowing any business with a liquor license to operate 24 hours a day and serve alcohol 23 hours a day between June 11 and July 19, 2026.
However, the bill left room for individual cities to maintain their own stricter operating hours. Independence took advantage of the leeway with a unanimous city council vote in October. As a result, liquor-licensed businesses in Independence will be allowed to stay open to the public 24/7 during the event, but will largely stop serving alcohol by 1:30 a.m. and pick back up by 8:00 a.m.
Independence is exerting its local authority to add some restrictions to development agreements between the city and outside agencies. For example, some of these new agreements stipulate that land in the city may not be used to build facilities related to the processing and sale of marijuana.
Such a clause was included in the contract between Independence and Midwest convenience store giant Wally’s, as well as in a December contract to build several tiny homes on East White Oak Avenue.
That means that these new developments will not have a path to include any new dispensaries.
Independence’s new approach is bucking the trend of other local municipalities when it comes to marijuana products. Kansas City’s planning commission recently considered a zoning amendment to allow dispensaries in certain areas to operate 24 hours a day. St. Joseph, Blue Springs and Grandview already allow 24-hour sales.
