SAN RAFAEL, Calif., Nov. 22 (UPI) —

A California ordinance that prohibits smoking in residences with shared walls may be the strictest anti-smoking law in the United States, city officials say.

The ban, passed by the city of San Rafael, applies to both owners and renters, ABC News reported Thursday.

It covers any multi-family residence with three or more units, including condominiums, co-ops and apartments. The ban took effect Nov. 14.

She cited studies that found secondhand smoke seeps through walls, ventilation ducts and even cracks as justification for the ordinance.

Critics jumped on Woodbury’s reasoning and the ordinance itself.

Steve Stanek, a research fellow at the free-market oriented policy group Heartland Institute in Chicago, supported the rights of smokers.

Stanek, a non-smoker, said, “My sympathies aren’t with smokers because I am one, it’s because of the huge growth in laws and punishments and government restricting people more and more.”