NEW SMOKING RULE STINKS
When the Trudeau government decided recreational cannabis would become legal on Oct. 17, who could have foreseen that tobacco smokers in Edmonton would lose a little of their freedom just as pot users gained more of it? A new more restrictive smoking bylaw passed Tuesday is just another unintended consequence of the federal action to legalize marijuana, which has spawned a growing number of them.
Provinces and municipalities are paying significant costs to set and enforce rules for cannabis consumption. For people involved in Canada’s legitimate pot industry, there’s the unanticipated risk of being barred from visiting the United States.
In Edmonton, city council has reacted to the looming legalization of pot by banning consumption of weed within 10 metres of any door, window, air intake or bus stop, ostensibly to contain the particularly pungent odour. As anyone who’s attended an outdoor music concert can attest, that’s an unrealistic hope.
To make things simpler, council lumped in tobacco smoking and vaping along with cannabis in the bylaw. Cigarette smokers who had previously been allowed to light up outside a five-metre buffer zone will see that distance doubled. This, despite the lack of complaints under the old five-metre bylaw.
As pointed out by Coun. Ben Henderson, who unsuccessfully tried to keep the restriction at five metres, this decision will also result in unintended consequences of its own.
To start, bars and restaurants on densely packed, high-traffic business areas worry they will lose customers if they are effectively banned from smoking on strips such as parts of downtown or Whyte Avenue.
More likely, the new bylaw will push smoking patrons, anxious to avoid a $250 ticket, into back alleys, out onto the street, or into nearby neighbourhoods, where residents will have to cope with the unanticipated effects of increased noise and discarded butts and roaches.
To enforce the new restrictions, the city says it will need to hire at least eight new full-time enforcement officers — at a time when it claims to be trying to keep tax increases down by trimming spending.
Council appears to have been caught between Edmontonians calling for a complete ban on pot smoking in public and those hoping to keep the five-metre limit. It’s unlikely the resulting 10-metre compromise will satisfy anyone, all the while creating its own problems.
A review of the bylaw scheduled for late spring to deal with the unintended consequences of the decision offers an opportunity for council to rethink the change.