OCEAN CITY – Mayor Rick Meehan said proposed code amendments prohibiting the issuance of on-site consumption licenses will not affect the town’s policies on smoking in public areas such as the beach and Boardwalk.
Last week, officials presented the Mayor and Council with two code amendments pertaining to on-site cannabis consumption. The changes would not only prohibit the issuance of cannabis on-site consumption business licenses, but would establish penalties for any violations.
In a Mayor and Council meeting Monday, Meehan said since the ordinances were introduced, he had received several emails on the subject. He said he wanted to make it clear the resort would not allow cannabis use in public areas.
“I think there might have been some confusion,” he said. “I got a number of emails – and I believe it might have been related to this – that we were prohibiting the issue of the license for on-site consumption, and I think some mistook this as we would then be allowing it in other public areas such as the beach and the Boardwalk. I’ve answered those emails, but that is absolutely not true. None of our policies with regard to smoking on the beach and the Boardwalk have changed.”
Meehan noted the Town of Ocean City was permitted to prohibit the issuance of on-site consumption licenses outlined in Maryland’s new cannabis reform legislation.