If you smoke cigarettes in the city of San Francisco you won’t be thrilled with the latest ban on tobacco smoking inside apartments.
However if you smoke marijuana, you’ll be thrilled to know that’s still okay.
The Board of Supervisors voted 10-1 this week approve the ordinance making San Francisco the largest city in the country to ban tobacco smoking inside apartments according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Originally there was a proposal that wanted 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 is currently 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,” remarked Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, who wrote the amendment to exempt cannabis.
San Francisco is now the 64th among cities and counties in California with such a ban.
The Department of Public Health will be responsible for enforcing the new law.
Under the ordinance, the department will have to 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.
There will be a second vote of the board next week where the ordinance must pass and then the mayor must sign it. If this is successful, the new law will go into effect 30 days later.
