Smoking areas defined

Mayflower Mall to allow smoking, toking and vaping in three designated spaces

Cannabis is now legal, but that doesn’t mean people are free to blaze up wherever they want.

On Tuesday, the Mayflower Mall, home to the Cape Breton Regional Municipality’s largest concentration of retail outlets, became the latest local establishment to announce its plans to beef up enforcement of its nonsmoking regulations and to consolidate all smoking, whether it be tobacco, marijuana or vaping, in three designated places.

General manager Greg Morrison said the mall is essentially going smoke-free, save for three locations spread over the sprawling property located off Grand Lake Road near the intersection of Highway 125.

“We’ll be enforcing the current rules more strongly — there used to be more leniency with people smoking around doors, but the new cannabis legislation made us have to have a stronger policy in reference to it,” said Morrison.

“Security will be enforcing this — our signage has changed and now indicates there are three designated smoking areas with the understanding that the rest of the mall is now smoke-free.”

The most visible of the designated smoking areas is to be located near the bus stop in the parking lot outside the doors to the food court area. The second is in the parking area between the Best Buy store at the Sydney end of the mall and the Mark’s store, while the third area will be located behind the shopping centre.

Earlier this month, Cape Breton University announced a similar policy that essentially makes its campus smoke-free save for two designated areas where students, faculty, staff and campus visitors can smoke cannabis and tobacco. One area is behind the MacDonald Residence and the other is located in the pay parking lot on

the Glace Bay side of campus.

Meanwhile, until Nova Scotia municipalities come up their own smoking restrictions and regulations, residents are subject to the laws of the province,

specifically the Smokefree Places Act that prohibits all types of smoking, including cannabis, in places such as cinemas, health care facilities, community centres and halls,

arenas, restaurants, beverage rooms, private clubs and bingo halls just to name to a few. Violations can result in fines of up to $2,000.

One of the only places to puff

without breaking any rules is in your own house – well, that is if you own it, if not the decision is up to the landlord.

DAVID JALA/CAPE BRETON POST This is one of the three designated smoking areas at the Mayflower Mall. The shopping centre intends to strengthen the non-smoking regulations that apply to public places. People wishing to smoke, toke or vape while at the mall are required to be in one of the three zones that are located around the sprawling property.