By Shelby Huffaker / San Diego Americans for Safe Access Newsletter / September 2024
On August 20, 2024, the Carlsbad City Council voted to adopt Ordinance No. CS-475 – 4/1 (Burkholder – No), prohibiting the smoking or vaping of cannabis and tobacco products in multi-unit residences. While the reasons underlying the creation of this ordinance may be well-intended, we at the San Diego Chapter of Americans for Safe Access believe that a prohibition on the smoking or vaping of cannabis and cannabis products in multiunit residences will result in numerous unintended consequences to patients, consumers, and the public at large. The reasons for this are outlined in detail below.
[Please go to original for the links.]
In certain circumstances, inhalation may be the most medically advantageous route of consumption for patients relying on cannabis to manage their health conditions.
- Compared to other consumption methods (e.g., ingestion, sublingual application), inhalation has the fastest onset time, meaning maximum symptom relief can be achieved within five to ten minutes. Like the use of inhalers for immediate asthma relief, inhalation methods provide a unique benefit for individuals using cannabis to address conditions or symptoms that progress rapidly and aggressively, such as nausea, migraines, and pain.
- Dry herb vaporization, an inhalation-based consumption method by which dried cannabis flower is heated rather than ignited, is recommended by health researchers. “Informed health care professionals may consider making recommendations to their medicinal cannabis patients for vapourization of the plant, particularly for those who want the rapid relief that oral administration fails to provide.”
- Inhalation may also be a safer route of consumption than other methods for some patients. For example, ingesting (i.e., eating) cannabis may not be safe for patients with liver disease, people living with disabilities that impair the ability to swallow or digest solid foods, or people with food allergies.
The harms associated with smoking or vaping cannabis are minimal and do not present the same harms as smoking or vaping tobacco/nicotine.
- Unlike research on tobacco, a substantial body of research has yet to demonstrate a relationship between smoking cannabis and lung cancer. Similarly, cannabis does not appear to increase the risk of developing Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder (COPD).
- Occasional and low cumulative cannabis exposure (e.g., 1 joint/day for 7 years or 1 joint/week for 49 years) is not associated with increased risk of adverse pulmonary outcomes.
- While other cannabis products that do not involve smoking or vaping are necessary tools for many medical cannabis patients, they are not inherently healthier or safer. Edible products, for example, are more difficult to dose and may be accidentally ingested by small children or pets (ingesting raw cannabis flower, by contrast, will do nothing more than cause an upset stomach).
An ordinance prohibiting the smoking or vaping of cannabis in multiunit residences will unfairly disadvantage groups already harmed by the disproportionate effects of the War on Drugs.
- In California, 90% of units in multiunit residences were rented instead of owned in 2021. Renters in the state are significantly more likely to be cost-burdened. Therefore, any policy targeting multiunit residences is more likely to affect people of lower socioeconomic status.
- Renters in California are also more likely to be people of color.
- In the U.S., Black people are arrested for cannabis-related offenses at 3.6 times the rate as white people despite similar usage rates. Implementing an ordinance such as the one proposed, without providing accessible alternative locations to consume one’s medicine, would be a continuation of the costly, ineffective, and unjust War on Drugs.
An ordinance prohibiting the smoking or vaping of cannabis in multiunit residences is duplicative, likely unpopular, and an infringement on individual liberties.
- Many multiunit residences already prohibit smoking or vaping. An ordinance such as the one proposed is duplicative, unnecessary, and cost-ineffective.
- According to the California Department of Health, in 2018, 17.7% of California adults reported using cannabis in the past 30 days. Of those, 58% reported smoking as their primary consumption method. With a population of 113,495, this equates to 11,651 adults in the City of Carlsbad who smoke cannabis at least once a month — many of whom do so because of legitimate medical purposes, or simply as a healthier alternative to alcohol, opioids, etc.
In conclusion, while the intent behind Ordinance No. CS-475 – 4/1 may be to protect public health, it overlooks the unique needs of medical cannabis patients and the realities of cannabis consumption. Prohibiting the smoking or vaping of cannabis in multiunit residences not only limits a vital method of symptom relief for many patients but also disproportionately impacts marginalized communities already affected by discriminatory policies and enforcement practices. We urge the Carlsbad City Council and other governing bodies to consider the broader implications of such ordinances and explore more equitable solutions, such as designated consumption areas, that respect individual rights and public health without perpetuating harm or injustice.
Are you a medical cannabis patient and/or property owner in Carlsbad who will be negatively affected by the new smoking/vaping ordinance (taking effect in January, 2025)? Contact us!
If I were a owner who rented to people, I wouldn’t want anyone smoking anything deteriorating my property indoors let alone a fire hazard. Comical it’s a “healthier alternative” than other choices.
“people living with disabilities that impair the ability to swallow or digest solid foods, or people with food allergies.”
While I think this is definite overreach, especially the vaping part, this just seems a stretch. Considering the availability of all kinds of edibles, including drinkables, there’ just no way inhaling is the only alternative. Food allergies? To all food?
This article is total bullshit. Taking the smoke from any burning combustible material into the lungs is detrimental to lung function.
Then you must be all-in for the complete banning of all combustion engines in the beach areas, Carl, since they spew enormous amounts of cancer-causing chemicals that completely saturate the air that everyone breathes. Talk about 2nd hand smoke! Especially for all of those deep-breathing joggers that seem to love running right alongside the choking roads sucking that smoggy air up that’s more carbon monoxide than it is 02 them engines fart out…
I also wonder how much of this same crap drifts down out of the sky after every single jet that flies over our heads, eh? All those decades under the take-off zone starting as a baby with tiny lungs…
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As for cannabis, I much prefer to smoke it. Since it cannot be compared to the known damage caused by the addictive drug tobacco according to published studies of decades-long cannabis smokers. Or the other addictive drug alcohol , for that matter which I don’t use, either,
Now that Biden has made moves to drop some of the literally insane ‘Official’ Prohibitionist-Era nonsense pushed into law by the former Alcohol Prohibition cop and extreme racist Harry Anslinger, there may be a lot more research on the properties of this plant starting soon though I think scientists still have to ‘ask permission’ from the DEA if I’m not mistaken because that requirement has changed. And only cannabis grown at the government’s pot farm. That’s…pitiful isn’t it? Sick in a way, too.
Oh, and just to give a wake-up on what a monster Harry was, typein his name and look for ‘Top 16 Quotes.’ If some of them don’t make you flinch…
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I use a bubbler. And matches. Better than huffing hot butane into my lungs I think. Also use a 4″ round glass magnifying glass when outside in the sun which works really well, too. Personally don’t like edibles.
But also make a seriously potent topical salve for pain (no Big Pharma for me) from the garden plants and the rubble after harvest. Has worked for unknown thousands of years with uncountable numbers of our ancestors, ya know?
The worst thing about it was the brutal violence government officials did to people over it. The millions of lives wrecked…for absolutely no reason. The insanity is deep in our species.
sealintheSelkirks
The original pre Sublime version:
https://youtu.be/4UUPY902Ph0?si=n29KuuyvOv-TItL0
HA! I’m a musician, hand percussionist, congas/bongos, a lot of world beat and reggae, and I’ve played this tune plenty of times in gigs over the years…and during breaks we go out and…smoke two joints. Each.
sealintheSelkirks
Biden surprised me a bit from what I expected he would act like as president before I voted for him. Some of his domestic policy was better than imagined, but that was all.
I would NOT have voted for Biden in any election if I wasn’t a NEVER TRUMP guy and there would have been a real choice in candidates. In that regard, the last eight years have proven that is was a much better decision in 2020 even though he has proven to be exactly what he always was throughout his awful career in politics, especially during the 1990s when he was just another Reagan neoliberal ‘democrat’ through and through.
And here we are again, same story being replayed.
Somehow I very much doubt that Harris is going to take much positive action in the legalization of cannabis. Here’s a cut why from:
https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/09/06/roaming-charges-116/
+ Trump comes out for the legalization of recreational marijuana (as long as you don’t smoke it in public). How things have changed in the last two decades. As Cockburn and I reported in our biography of Al Gore, in 2000 the Big Al still wanted to jail cancer patients, like his own sister, who were using marijuana to offset the side effects of chemotherapy…
+ Trump may have succeeded in outflanking Harris on what should have been a slam-dunk issue for her. As I reported in last week’s Roaming Charges, the Biden-Harris DEA told the NPR station in Columbus, Ohio last week that it still reserves the right to arrest people on federal marijuana possession charges, even in states that have legalized recreational marijuana. Once a prosecutor, always a prosecutor.
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And I agree with the last statement. So my expectations over the reality Harris will impose on the US is probably close to what the reality will be as they were with Biden.
And I think Trump is lying again about his cannabis speech because that’s all he knows how to do. Of course he is! He does about everything except maybe the dictator part!
But…at this point in time, it is imperative that Trump NOT be allowed political power in any way, shape, or form. In the four years of his earlier insanity he completely yanked the worst parts of our legal system into the forefront of reality with the devastatingly bad judges he install, wrecked the economy, allowed for the death and sickness of millions of our fellow citizens by SARS II Covid-19 with his absolutely stupidity and lack of any science background, and turned this country into an even worse (how could it have been possible?) cash cow for the wealthy to plunder than it already was.
So vote, people, register friends and family who have a working brain to vote in November. Do it now. Maybe after Harris we’ll have a better choice to vote for than just another so-called ‘moderate’ neo-liberal. One can always hope, yes? So, on that note, I’m about to light my first bowl of the day from last year’s garden since it’s now 4:21pm.
From another miserable 100’F day on the Canadian Border, ta-ta!
sealintheSelkirks
I’m 59 years old and female. I was diagnosed a couple of months ago with COPD/Asthma and I was beyond scared! My lung function test indicated 49% capacity. After having had flu a year ago, the shortness of breath, coughing, and chest pains continued even after being treated with antibiotics. I’ve been smoking two packs a day for 36 years. Being born without a sternum caused my ribs to be curled just one inch away from my spine, resulting in underdeveloped lungs. At age 34 I had surgery and it was fixed. Unfortunately, my smoking just caused more damage to my already underdeveloped lungs. The problem I was having is that I enjoy smoking and don’t want to give up! Have tried twice before and nearly went crazy and don’t want to go through that again. I saw the fear in my husband’s and children’s eyes when I told them about my condition then they started to find solutions on their own to help my condition. I am 59 now and was diagnosed with COPD/Asthma which I know was from my years of smoking. I started smoking in school when smoking was socially acceptable. I remember when smoking was permitted in hospitals. It was not known then how dangerous cigarettes were for us, and it seemed everybody smoked but I was able to get rid of my COPD and Asthma lung condition through the help of Madiba Herbal Center com my husband bought, WWW. MADIBAHERBALCENTER. COM has the right herbal formula to help you get rid of and repair any lung conditions and cure you totally with their natural organic herbs. I wish anybody who starts smoking at a young age would realize what will eventually happen to their bodies if they continue that vile habit throughout their life.