As summer temperatures soar into the 90s, residents and tourists are heading outside, packing public parks, pools, beaches and other outdoor recreational areas across the state. But there’s also something new in the air this season - marijuana.

This is the first summer since dispensaries started legally selling recreational marijuana in the state. And although public consumption of marijuana remains illegal in Massachusetts, it hasn’t stopped people from consuming it outside.

Mary Randle, a Hudson mother and registered nurse, said she was in a park with her daughter one day in late June when she noticed a strong odor of marijuana coming from a group of people sitting behind her. While she said none were consuming in public, she said the smell was “overwhelming.”

“I didn’t say anything to them,” Randle said. “What could I say? They weren’t breaking the law. But as a mother, I do have some concerns. I can see people pushing the laws or even using a shift in acceptability to see what they can get away with. I know how things can quickly get out of hand.”

Randle admitted her opinion of marijuana usage has shifted since she voted no on Question 4 in 2016. She said she has started to come around on recreational usage if done properly under strict guidelines. But she still has a “nagging feeling” in the back of her mind about marijuana use becoming “as commonplace as drinking a beer.”

Proponents say many concerns over the increase in marijuana visibility could be alleviated by a better understanding of the product, as well as debunking long-held myths.

“We need to comment on the 'contact high' (getting high from second-hand smoke) concern, because that has absolutely no scientific backing whatsoever outside of being in an unventilated room while someone puffs on numerous joints,” said Maggie Kinsella, press secretary for the Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition.

Kinsella said she isn’t aware of any increase in the acceptance of smelling marijuana in public, for example, but that such a shift could come with time. Either way, if such a phenomenon were to be an issue, it would have been seen and addressed years ago.

“Weed has been smoked outside, in parks, for years,” Kinsella said. “Even before it was decriminalized, you could smell it on a hike or during a concert. The whole mindset needs an upgrade after all the ‘reefer madness,’ and it needs to be backed by science, not opinion. The smell has always been there, but now that it is legal it is becoming more well-known."

As for an increase in public visibility, Kinsella said that could actually be a good thing.

“There is this ‘concern’ that all of a sudden people are going to start smoking in public, but it hasn’t been happening. This seems to fall on deaf ears,” she said. “When people are dying of pharmaceuticals, and other very legal substances, the smell (of marijuana) can mean someone is able to live.”

This “rebranding” of marijuana as a positive rather than a negative has gained steam as medical usage has increased, and recreational facilities have started to become more commonplace around the state.

Many companies are using this summer to make themselves more visible in their communities, including Sira Naturals infusions manager Annie Wolf, who educates the public on how edibles can extend beyond cakes and brownies, and dispensaries who used events like the Fourth of July to highlight how cannabis can help veterans with PTSD.

Kinsella says the "image" of cannabis won’t become truly accepted and understood until a push toward social consumption is made. Without that element, marijuana usage will still be looked at as a taboo habit people do behind closed doors.

“It stems from a total lack of social consumption locations,” said MassCann representative Noni Goldman. “The laws here are very clear in that getting caught publicly consuming cannabis is a fine. The current laws do nothing to address the ignorance and harassment our community faces just for medicating, and puts our most vulnerable members of our community in an impossible situation. They cannot consume if they are in subsidized housing, but they'll get a fine if they're caught in the park. What is a cancer patient to do?”

State weighs social establishments

Earlier this month, cannabis regulators released rewritten rules that would govern, among other things, brick-and-mortar social consumption establishments in the state. These new proposed regulations, which came after months of policy discussions and hearings, were released to the public July 2 and outline how these “cannabis cafes” could work, and where they could be located. Public hearings to discuss the proposal are scheduled for Aug. 14 and 15.

The Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission’s recommended Social Consumption Pilot Program would first need the passage of new statewide legislation to officially take effect.

Commissioner Shaleen Title sees no reason why residents should witness more marijuana use this summer, and echoed Kinsella’s assertion that new licensed state facilities could go a long way to mitigate such concerns.

“Public consumption remains illegal, and I haven’t seen any evidence of more use in public than before,” Title said. “But to the extent that public cannabis use is concerning to anyone, they’ll be encouraged to know that regulated, ventilated social consumption establishments, such as cannabis cafes, are on the way.”

The CCC's Cannabis Advisory Board had previously recommended allowing social consumption and suggested that it could reduce the risk of children getting a hold of the drug and may limit how much legal marijuana is illegally transported out of state by tourists.

“As businesses are continuing to be approved and open at a steady rate, users are switching from the underground market to the regulated market at a steady rate,” Title said.