Councillor sees pot lounges as way around public ban
Keating predicts laws will relax over time after cannabis becomes legal
Calgarians will have to spark up in private once cannabis becomes legal next month after the city shot down four proposed public pot consumption sites.
The Wednesday decision leaves many renters and condo owners hamstrung by city bylaws if they want to smoke legal pot because recreational use is banned in all public places.
If it had been approved, the proposal from Coun. Gian-Carlo Carra would have exempted cannabis users in Ward 9 from the public ban at pot parks in Inglewood, Bridgeland and Ogden.
But the idea went up in smoke — at least for now.
And while city councillors still have the option to designate cannabis consumption sites in their wards, Coun. Shane Keating believes the total public ban on pot use is only a temporary measure.
He said Calgarians will eventually be able to visit pot lounges, meeting the need of citizens who can’t smoke in their homes because of the bylaw that takes consumption out of the public arena.
“That will be coming, so skip all the hysteria about we don’t have anything today,” Keating said Thursday, a day after proposed public consumption sites were taken off the table.
“It’s change ... it’s going to come.” Pot lounges have been operating in Canadian cities for years, usually under the blind eye of law enforcement.
Vancouver’s Cannabis Culture — started by Canada’s self-proclaimed Prince of Pot Marc Emery — charges a fee to enter and to access pipes, bongs, vaporizers and other pot paraphernalia.
They also have munchies available for a post-smoke snack.
Matt Zabloski, the city’s lead on the cannabis legalization file, said Calgary looked at options for pot lounges when the federal government announced plans for legalization.
Provincial regulations from the Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Commission currently prevent municipalities from approving pot lounges.
But Zabloski said lobbying the province to change those rules is an option that is “on the table.”
“There’s certainly at least the potential there. That being said, until the province kind of loosens those regulations and allows municipalities to do so, our hands are tied.”
As with many aspects of cannabis legalization, Keating said it will take time for the province and municipalities to address the public’s pot problems but stood by his belief that it’s only a matter of time until Calgary has multiple pot lounges.
Zabloski said council members may still designate cannabis consumption sites in their wards, similar to Carra’s ill-fated, four-park proposal.
But Keating said he won’t be pursuing that option for Ward 12 after speaking with constituents, the majority of whom he said are opposed to the idea.
He likened public cannabis use to the public consumption of alcohol, saying both should be treated the same as far as public use is concerned.
“So when it comes to a point in time where you can take a bottle of wine and sit in the neighbourhood park and have a picnic ... then I’ll worry about having other drugs in public,” Keating said.
When it comes to a point in time where you can take a bottle of wine and sit in a neighbourhood park ... then I’ll worry about having other drugs in public.