San Fran Indoor Vape Ban Lost
San Francisco took the completely bizarre step of trying to ban smoking and vaping in all apartment buildings – but it was fine to toke away on highly pungent cannabis. EDIT: A second vote overcame the proposal.
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by Dave Cross
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Norman Yee, Board of Supervisors president, said: “One should not have to live in a single-family home to be able to breathe clean air. That right should exist for every single person and family, regardless of where they live or what their income is.”
Some might question if Norman has ever smelt cannabis or lived next door to a vaper. If the police actually managed to catch a person vaping in their flat – which is almost impossible – the vaper would be subject to a fine of up to US$1000.
Rafael Mandelman explained the stoner exemption: “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.”
The new policy has been slammed by harm reduction expert Professor Michael Siegel: “If the principle here is that nobody in an apartment should be exposed to harmful combusted products from an adjacent apartment, then there’s no justification for saying, ‘we’re banning tobacco, but not cannabis.’”
Michael Siegel told Inside Sources that vaping is a very effective way for smokers to quit tobacco use, referring to the Peter Hajek study that showed it is far better than traditional nicotine replacement products.
Ulrik Boesen, a senior analyst at the Tax Foundation, told Inside Sources that the experience from when Massachusetts banned tobacco and vape flavoured products was that sales boomed in nearby states. It showed that rather than cutting down the number or vapers and smokers, it simply displaced where they purchased products.
San Francisco has already banned the sale of vape products this year – but cigarettes remain on sale across the city. The dysfunctional and anti-science approach to combatting tobacco-related disease is nothing more than lip service, the city is only concerned with the revenue it earns from tobacco tax and marijuana sales.
*EDIT: The second vote on the proposal was considered a done deal and Yee had already sent out a celebratory email to his consituents. The San Francisco Examiner is reporting that Yee is "disappointed". He has yet to announce if he will table the prosposal again.
Related:
- “S.F. bans tobacco smoking inside apartment buildings, allows cannabis smoking”, San Francisco Chronicle – [link]
- “Public Health Expert: San Fran’s Vaping Ban ‘Makes No Sense’,” Inside Sources – [link]
Photo Credit:
Photo by Budherd Team on Unsplash
Dave Cross
Journalist at POTVDave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous vape companies to develop content for their websites.
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