Do Simsbury and Enfield's Smoke-Free Rules Unfairly Target Cannabis Users?

April 12, 2025 – Connecticut

Two Connecticut towns, Simsbury and Enfield, have enacted sweeping “smoke-free” ordinances that claim to protect public health — but in practice, they unfairly target cannabis users and medical patients while preserving privileges for tobacco users.

In Enfield’s new law, which bans smoking and carrying tobacco or cannabis products on any town property, even possessing an unlit joint or powered-off vape pen could result in a $50 fine. Simsbury has also banned cannabis smoking on town grounds, but does not ban tobacco use with the same consistency — creating a legal double standard.

Let’s be clear: Cannabis is legal in Connecticut. But these ordinances push us backwards by:

• Treating legal cannabis more harshly than deadly tobacco
• Failing to exempt medical cannabis patients — even those who need to vape to relieve seizures, PTSD, or chronic pain
• Criminalizing possession, not just use — something not done for tobacco
• Leaving enforcement to police discretion, increasing the risk of racial profiling and targeting of youth and marginalized groups
• Ignoring public input from patients, advocates, and cannabis professionals in the policymaking process

These laws reflect a broader pattern of quiet regression in cannabis freedom in Connecticut, where local policies undermine state legalization and reinforce outdated stigmas.

While public health is important, true equity means protecting the rights of patients, treating substances consistently, and avoiding laws that criminalize people for existing while legal.

Speak Up: If you’re a cannabis patient or supporter in Simsbury or Enfield, contact your local officials and demand better. This isn’t about smoke — it’s about fairness.

Simsbury, Connecticut + Enfield, Connecticut