Please veto Assembly Bill 1775 Cannabis: Retail preparation, sale and consumption of non-cannabis food and beverage products (AB 1775, Haney).  You wisely vetoed the almost identical bill (AB374) last year stating: “I am concerned this bill could undermine California's long-standing smoke-free workplace protections.” It is time to put this unfortunate, recurring, anti-worker idea to permanent rest.

Allowing cannabis retailers permitted for on-site consumption to open restaurants and bars that prepare and sell conventional foods and beverages, whether pre-packaged or prepared on site, is a deeply unwise policy.

The creation of smoke-free environments in all workplaces including restaurants and bars, most places of entertainment, and many other public spaces, has been one of the great public health triumphs of the past century. GenZ and Millennial youth have grown up in smoke-free environments, leading to far lower rates of smoking and reduced risk of cancer and heart disease. California has been a national leader in creating and protecting smoke-free air. These efforts and public health values should be reflected in our cannabis policies in order to mitigate the harms of legal access without driving up consumption and exposure.

AB 1775 will jeopardize Californians by:

• Exposing more patrons and employees to the harms of secondhand cannabis smoke and vapor, including pregnant individuals and fetuses.
• Increasing exposure more extensively and for longer periods of time.
• Normalizing/Increasing the use of cannabis, leading to decreased perception of harms.
• Bringing back smoke-filled restaurants and bars, undermining decades of progress in smoke-free air.
• Increasing motor vehicle collisions and exacerbating drugged driving.
• Creating undesirable burdens for governmental operations including highway patrol, local police, emergency medical services agencies and health providers

Allowing cannabis smoke/vapor filled rooms pose a significant threat to anyone in that environment. Secondhand cannabis smoke/vapor pollutes the air as much or more than tobacco. Suggestions that exposure to secondhand cannabis smoke/vapor is safe are misleading. Smoke is smoke. Like tobacco smoke, it is clear that engineering and ventilation techniques cannot reduce this pollution to healthy levels; complete smoke-free policies are the only way to provide healthy indoor environments. 

The amendments made to exclude smoking in kitchens completely fail to address the risks to workers who will continue to be exposed to secondhand smoke/vapor/contact, both those who serve and clean consumption areas, and those in the kitchen. Studies have documented the failure to prevent secondhand smoke from entering adjacent areas such as kitchens even when smoking is prohibited.

Extensive evaluation research has also confirmed that smokefree air does not have negative economic impact on hospitality industry employment or revenue, contrary to claims of the tobacco and cannabis industry. A major economic review concluded “From small towns such as West Lake Hills, Texas to large cities like New York, states as diverse as Arkansas, Oregon and Texas, the vast majority of studies find that there is no negative economic impact from of clean indoor air policies, with many finding that there may be positive effects on local businesses.”

With your leadership, California’s smoke-free air laws will continue to protect future generations of Californians against the harms of secondhand smoke. Cannabis should not be an exception. Cannabis businesses should remain specialized establishments to provide legal access to cannabis, but not become restaurants, cannabis bars or convenience stores.

We urge you to protect workers and California’s next generations, please VETO AB 1775. Thank you for your consideration.