Judge denies smoke shops’ injunction against the city of Fresno

FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – A federal judge has denied a nonprofit’s request to stop the city of Fresno from enforcing smoke shop regulations.

While the city may have won the battle, though, the war is far from over.

“They filed a motion for a preliminary injunction, which the judge also denied on Friday,” Fresno City Attorney Andrew Janz said.

The California Smoke Shops Association (CSSA), a nonprofit made up of 28 smoke shop owners, is suing the city over its recent smoke shop ordinance.

The ordinance limits the number of smoke shops per district and requires businesses to have conditional use permits.

“What we’ve seen from smoke shops is that they’re intentionally targeting the unhoused, the unemployed, and the criminal element, and their products demonstrate that,” District 3 City Councilman Miguel Arias said.

The trial is not until January 2027. So, CSSA filed for a preliminary injunction to stop the city from enforcing its ordinance until the end of the trial.

However, the judge decided the enforcement was in the public’s best interest and denied CSSA’s request Fon riday.

This is the second time the judge has sided with the city in this case.

CSSA filed a restraining order against the city this summer, but that was also denied.

Arias says they want to limit the number of smoke shops per district because of the negative impact they have on their surroundings.

“They’re selling flavored tobacco to minors. They’re selling cannabis illegally. The vast majority, like 95% of them, don’t even have a business license or are not paying taxes in the city. And they’re leading the amount of police calls in the area,” Arias said.

However, in the recent preliminary injunction filing, CSSA claimed the regulations were unfair because they don’t also apply to tobacco shops.

“We have not seen any increased crime around places that have cigars, around Save Mart or Costco – other places that sell tobacco, and so we’ve really seen the crime concentrated in areas around the smoke shops,” Janz said.

Arias says CSSA offered the city a settlement deal “where the existing businesses who have no rules would be exempt from any future rules, and only the rules would apply to future operators, as well as they would like to double or triple in the amount of smoke shops in the southern part of the city.”

He says more smoke shops in south Fresno would deteriorate that area of the city.

They did not take the deal.

Reporters reached out to multiple smoke shops for this story, but did not hear back. CSSA’s attorney did not respond either.