Fresno bans indoor smoking in apartments. What about medical marijuana?
The Fresno City Council on Thursday voted to ban smoking indoors at multi-unit housing complexes.
The ordinance requires housing complexes to ban smoking from inside individual units and only allow it in designated smoking areas. The ordinance includes e-cigarettes, vape and hookah devices.
“This policy is about protecting the health of our community,” said Councilmember Nelson Esparza, a sponsor of the ordinance. “As someone that lives in multi-family housing, I personally understand how second and third hand smoke can have a negative impact on neighbors and residents.”
The smoking ban passed on a 6-1 vote, with Councilmember Garry Bredefeld casting the only “no” vote.
The ordinance received broad support during the last council meeting from young people, local health experts and the California Apartment Association. A handful of folks, including Bredefeld, worried the ordinance will put an undue burden on landlords and targets renters who smoke without providing resources to help them quit.
Councilmember Mike Karbassi introduced a new ordinance Thursday to protect patients who rely on medical cannabis from punitive action due to the new smoking ban. The council was split on that ordinance, with Karbassi and Bredefeld voting for it and Esparza and Councilmember Tyler Maxwell voting against it. Councilmembers Miguel Arias, Luis Chavez and Esmeralda Soria abstained, saying they weren’t ready to cast a vote.
“It is no question that I am very concerned about recreational cannabis, but medicinal is another matter,” Karbassi said. “I’m not going to judge someone who wants to use cannabis instead of an opioid, and their doctor says this is a better option for you.
“Look, I really didn’t want to make this about your bill,” Karbassi told Maxwell, who also sponsored the smoking ban ordinance. “I just don’t think that any law we passed today should get between a patient’s right to consume medicinal cannabis.”
Maxwell noted that smoking is still allowed in apartment complexes if it’s outside in a designated smoking area or on private property.