Credit: City of Broadview Heights
The southern Cleveland suburb of Broadview Heights, where you can “leave the door unlocked at your house when you take a stroll down to main street,” is scheduled to revise an ordinance in its criminal code Feb. 18 that will make possession of small amounts of marijuana a minor misdemeanor.

This reduction moves Broadview Heights in line with the Ohio Revised Code and every other community in Northeast Ohio.

The third season of the Serial podcast brought to the attention of national listeners that Broadview Heights and Euclid were the only two municipalities in Cuyahoga County where possession of any amount of marijuana, including a single blunt, was a first-degree misdemeanor, punishable by a fine and up to six months in jail.

Euclid City Council voted unanimously to revise its criminal code in December in direct response to the podcast. Those found with small amounts of marijuana in Euclid now only face a maximum $150 fine.

The similar change to the Broadview Heights marijuana possession ordinance actually already appears in the city code:


According to the Clerk of Council, Broadview Heights City Council will officially pass this new codification at its Feb. 18th meeting. (Do note for the record that the drug is spelled “marihuana” in the city code.)

Scene freelancer Hannah Lebovits contributed reporting to this story.

This article appears in Feb 6-12, 2019.

Sam Allard is a former senior writer at Scene.