SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — San Francisco has banned all tobacco smoking inside apartments, citing concerns about secondhand smoke. But lighting up a joint inside? That’s still allowed.
The Board of Supervisors voted 10-1 Tuesday to approve the ordinance making San Francisco the largest city in the country to ban tobacco smoking inside apartments, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
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.
“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.
It’s illegal under state law to smoke cannabis in public places.
San Francisco now joins 63 California cities and counties with such a ban.
The ordinance must pass a second vote of the board next week and the mayor must sign it. Once that happens, the new law would go into effect 30 days later.