San Francisco bans tobacco but not cannabis smoking in apartments to counter secondhand smoke effects
San Francisco will ban tobacco but not cannabis smoking in apartments to counter the effects of secondhand tobacco smoke.
The city's Board of Supervisors passed the amended ordinance by an 8-3 vote with Board President, Norman Yee, among those dissenting.
He told The Guardian: "While there are great benefits to cannabis, there are still health risks in exposure to secondhand cannabis smoke."
The board rejected the original proposal which sought to exempt only medical marijuana users because state law prohibits cannabis users from smoking in public places, according to The Guardian.
It passed by 10-1 with only Supervisor Dean Preston objecting before Rafael Mandelman introduced the amendment, CNN reported.
In a statement posted on Twitter, he said: "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 under the ordinance."
San Francicso will become the 64th Californian city or county to ban tobacco smoking in apartments, according to the Associated Press.
Repeat offenders may be fined up to $1,000 per day but nobody will be evicted because of it, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
The law must pass a second vote next week and be signed by Mayor London Breed, before being enacted 30 days later, CNN added.
Secondhand smoke kills over 41,000 people per year in the US, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The news follows the historic vote to decriminalize marijuana across the US although it has been legal in California since 2018.
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