Can I bring my weed into the music festival held at a public park?

So you’re heading to the Evolution Festival this weekend in St. Louis, and you picked up a “music festival fanny pack” stuffed with pre-rolled joints, vapes, THC-infused mints, and the works at Hippos dispensary in Chesterfield.

Now that recreational marijuana is legal, you’re thinking you can roll right through the gate with your Barbie-pink fanny pack of goodies.

Well maybe, but maybe not.

With the state law being so new, these kinds of questions are still getting worked out at the local level, and there’s still quite a bit of confusion among residents and officials about what’s allowed. Let’s dive in.

Evolution — along with others like the Treeline Music Fest coming up in Columbia — is being held in a public park. By state law, consumption of marijuana in public places is illegal, unless the local government has passed an ordinance giving them the authority to permit such activity.

“Events must follow local laws regarding public consumption of marijuana,” said Lisa Cox, spokeswoman for the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services which regulates the state’s cannabis program. “If there are no local laws allowing for public consumption, the constitutional prohibition against public consumption would apply.”