The San Francisco Chronicle reported that the city officials in San Francisco have banned all tobacco smoking inside apartments, citing concerns about secondhand smoke. However, lighting and smoking a joint indoors is allowed.
The state of California had passed the Medicinal and Adult-Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act (MAUCRSA), which was signed into law in June 2017. The law created a general framework for the regulation of commercial medicinal and adult-use cannabis in California.
According to media accounts, the Board of Supervisors voted to approve the ordinance making San Francisco the largest city in the U.S to ban tobacco smoking inside apartments.
The original proposal sought to ban residents from smoking marijuana in their apartments, but supervisors voted to exclude marijuana after cannabis activists said the law would take away their only legal place to smoke. It’s illegal under state law to smoke cannabis in public places.
“Unlike tobacco smokers who could still leave their apartments to step out to the curb or smoke in other permitted outdoor smoking areas, cannabis users would have no such legal alternatives,” said Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, who wrote the amendment to exempt cannabis.
San Francisco now joins 63 California cities and counties with such a ban. The Department of Public Health will be responsible for enforcing the new law. Under the ordinance, the department must first try to educate violators and help smokers quit. Repeat offenders could be fined $1,000 a day but can not be evicted for a smoking violation.
California Cannabis Legislation – The California State Legislature passed a budget trailer bill, Senate Bill 94, that integrated MCRSA with AUMA to create the Medicinal and Adult‐Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act (MAUCRSA). Under MAUCRSA passed in 2017, a single regulatory system governs the medicinal and adult-use cannabis industry in California.
- Senate Bill 94
- Assembly Bill 133
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