Public pot ban on the table

By Collin Gallant on September 25, 2018.

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com @CollinGallant

City councillors will debate making it illegal to smoke marijuana in almost all outdoor spaces in Medicine Hat when they meet next Monday, about two weeks before adult recreational use of the long-banned narcotic is made legal.

That timeline also means members will have to begin advancing a local bylaw at that time, or have local standards revert to provincial minimums on legalization day Oct. 17.

A blanket ban on smoking pot in nearly all public places — parks, sidewalks, parking lots — albeit with possible permit exemptions for events, will be on the agenda next week after a council committee objected to proposed rules it asked administrators to consider this summer.

“We all need to be clear about what we’ll be talking about,” said committee chair Coun. Julie Friesen after she and two colleagues voted 3-0 to advance a proposed item to council without a recommendation to approve it.

RELATED: Survey shows downtown support for cannabis ban

The change comes about two months after a lengthy debate on the subject at council, which ended with councillors instructing city administrators to advance work to blend cannabis into existing tobacco restrictions.

The reversal comes after the Medicine Hat Police Service provided a briefing note to the committee outlining concerns with implementing a combined tobacco and pot bylaw.

“We want it treated more like alcohol (rather) than tobacco,” said Insp. Brent Secondiak, who attended Monday’s meeting. “People (would be able to) consume it in their own home or dwelling house, and in public there could be designated special areas, so that it doesn’t affect everybody.

“They considered some of the public risk factors that we were concerned with in the proposed bylaws.”

Councillors Jim Turner and Kris Samraj also said they would consider the MHPS recommendation and enact a public spaces ban, defined as most non-private property with the exceptions of roadways, golf courses and some other areas defined in legislation.

“It’s still going to be difficult to enforce because it will be complaint based,” said Turner. “Somewhere along the line people are going to break some rules.”

Provincial regulations ban the use in parks and other places thought of as public, as well as cars and vehicles, except parked recreational vehicles, which are considered temporary residences. Those will be in place Oct. 17, though local municipalities have the ability to enact further restrictions short of an outright ban.

“We all have our own value systems, but it’s the law of the land whether we like it or not,” said Friesen.

The general feeling on committee was to enact a stronger bylaw to account for the unusual situation ending prohibition, then reviewing it for possible easing in future years when more is known.

The cities of Calgary and Red Deer are considering similar public space bans, but Calgary city hall also recently shelved a plan for several designated parks.

The legal definition of public places generally applies to all buildings to which the public has access either by right or implied invitation. That means public and municipal buildings as well as most private businesses, said Linnsie Clarke, with the city solicitor’s office.

Legislation also specifically includes multi-unit housing, group living facilities, bus shelters, restaurants and bars (including their patios), as well as hotels.

As well, exemptions for prescription-holding medical cannabis users would need to be included, according to staffers.

Medicine Hat Stampede general manager Jim MacArthur said his group is questioning how the inclusion of “fairgrounds” would be enforced.

“Generally, we like the Calgary Stampede policy that it’s never allowed on grounds, and if medical, not consumed,” he told the committee.

Administrators described the MHPS brief, which was not made public, as including a prediction of high-call volumes of complaints and increased police interactions when regular citizens are confronted with someone smoking marijuana.

Secondiak notes that local police only write about 100 tickets for tobacco smoking in improper places each year, despite the number of offences likely being much higher.

“There are public complaints that come along with consuming anything in public,” said Secondiak. “Enforcing some laws with boundaries from doors — five-metres three-metres, 10 metres — it becomes difficult.”

Police still have the ability to make arrests for public intoxication, no matter the intoxicant, Secondiak stated.

Landlords can restrict cannabis use in their rental properties and likewise, condo boards have the authority to put restrictions in place.

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