Florida Lawmaker Files Bill to Ban Public Marijuana Smoking Across the State

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The measure, filed by Representative Alex Andrade (R), would place marijuana under the same prohibitions that currently apply to tobacco, extending the state’s longstanding workplace and outdoor-area rules to cover both smoking and vaping. HB 389 defines “public places” broadly, covering streets, sidewalks, highways, public parks, and public beaches. It also includes the common areas—indoors and outdoors—of schools, hospitals, government buildings, apartment complexes, office buildings, hotels, restaurants, and retail shops. The bill further blocks marijuana smoking and vaping in airport in-transit lounges. As with existing tobacco law, unfiltered cigars remain exempt.

Florida’s framework for smoking regulations began with a voter-approved 2002 constitutional amendment that banned smoking inside enclosed workplaces. In 2022, lawmakers gave cities and counties the authority to restrict smoking on beaches and in local parks.

Marijuana was legalized for medical use in 2016, and while patients may possess and use their medicine, public smoking has operated in a gray area. Andrade’s bill would close those gaps by clearly extending statewide public-place prohibitions to marijuana for the first time.