ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Recreational marijuana became legal in New Mexico last week, Albuquerque city council updated its Clean Air Act ordinance to bring cannabis under its control. Legally you can use cannabis in your home, the only place publically you can smoke marijuana is at a place that has a license to sell and consume cannabis.

“It is illegal under state law there is a $50 civil fine if you smoke cannabis in public under state law that stays in place,” said city councilor Tammy Fiebelkorn. “So all we are doing here is cleaning up this indoor air quality ordinance for the city of Albuquerque to make it focused on indoor air.”

The bill does allow for the creation of smoking lounges at places with licenses to consume marijuana. These designated areas in Albuquerque would have to get a permit from the city, like any other room that allows cigarette smoking. The cannabis facilities would have to have separate ventilation in those rooms that could not be inhaled by the general public, one of the topics discussed was also the inclusion of vaping with marijuana.

“One of the original things that this bill does is broaden the definition of smoking contained in this ordinance to include things like vaping and other methods of heating cannabis to smoke it,” said Julia Coulloudon

Even with this bill going into place cannabis is still illegal when it comes to public use and if caught you will be subjected to a $50 civil fine. It would be illegal to smoke marijuana on patios like bars or breweries that allow cigarette smoking but do not have a cannabis consumption license.

Marijuana shops that are licensed for consumption would be allowed to create patios for people to smoke on, as long as it follows the guidelines of the Albuquerque clean air act.

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Originally Appeared Here