I don’t smoke, and I never will. But I do believe in the right of every responsible entrepreneur to earn a living without being crushed by government overreach. We live in America, where opportunity is supposed to be equal, not selective.
Fairness is the foundation of every thriving community. It’s what keeps people believing that hard work and honesty still matter. Yet Fresno’s new Vape Shop Conditional Use Permit (CUP) ordinance sends the opposite message: that the city can pick winners and losers among law-abiding small businesses.
Under the new rule, the city will allow only 49 vape shops — seven per district. Every existing business must reapply for a permit or close within 18 months, even if it has operated legally for years. That’s not reform, that’s eradication.
This law doesn’t distinguish between responsible operators and bad actors. It treats everyone as guilty until proven innocent. Many shop owners have invested their life savings, employed local residents and supported their families through these stores. Asking them to shut down or “change careers” is not only cruel and unrealistic, it’s inhumane.
When Fresno regulated liquor stores decades ago, the city made the right choice by grandfathering in existing operators. Smoke shops deserve the same fairness.
The inconsistency goes further. Vape shops are banned from selling CBD cream, yet that same product can be purchased at pharmacies, liquor stores and mini-marts. If CBD cream is unsafe, then banning only vape shops from selling it is hypocrisy. If it’s safe, stop targeting vape shops alone.
Public-health data doesn’t justify this level of restriction:
• Cigarettes kill about 480,000 Americans each year.
• Alcohol kills around 180,000.
• Processed foods are linked to over 700,000 deaths annually.
• According to the CDC, vaping-related deaths total fewer than 70 nationwide.
Ironically, many cigarette smokers have switched to vaping because it’s healthier and helps them quit. The product is saving lives, not endangering them.
Behind every small business is a human story, a family, a mortgage, a child in school. These are our neighbors, taxpayers and local employers. Punishing them means fewer jobs, more vacant storefronts and less city revenue.
Selective enforcement doesn’t make Fresno safer. When lawful stores close, the black market fills the gap. Our city’s real challenges are homelessness, crime and economic decline. Shutting down compliant smoke shops won’t solve any of them.
It’s time to put people, tax-paying citizens, before political special interests. Here are three steps Fresno should take:
1. Grandfather in existing smoke shops that follow the law.
2. Target only the few bad actors who break it.
3. Apply rules equally across all retailers.
We don’t ban everything that carries risk, we regulate and educate. Small-business owners deserve that same fairness. Let’s be a city that values justice and opportunity, not one that crushes its own entrepreneurs in the name of politics.
Regulation is necessary. But it must be balanced, consistent and humane.
AJ Rassamni, a longtime business owner and community advocate, is president of the Blackstone Merchants Association, founder of Success From Within, a nonprofit that teaches students that success begins within and candidate for Fresno City Council District 7.
AJ Rassamni is president of the Blackstone Merchants Association in Fresno.