San Francisco will ban tobacco smoking inside apartments in an effort to curb the negative health impacts of secondhand smoke. Cannabis smoking, however, will still be permitted.
San Francisco’s board of supervisors passed the ban on tobacco and e-cigarette smoking in apartments 10-1 on Wednesday. The amendment exempting cannabis passed 8-3, with the board president, Norman Yee, the overall ordinance’s author, among the dissenting votes. “While there are great benefits to cannabis, there are still health risks in exposure to secondhand cannabis smoke,” he said.
The original legislation before the board had sought to exempt only medicinal cannabis users from the indoor smoking ban, but the board voted to exclude marijuana smoking in general because state law prohibits cannabis users from smoking in public places.
An ordinance restricting cannabis smoking in apartments would take away cannabis users’ only legal place to smoke, argued Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, who wrote the amendment to exempt cannabis.
“Tobacco smokers and cannabis smokers are fundamentally in a different position under state law,” Mandelman said. “Tobacco smokers, unable to smoke in their apartment building, can go out to the curb. There are other public spaces where they’re allowed to smoke. Cannabis smokers don’t have that alternative.”
Tonight I introduced a successful amendment at the…
