By Lara Fominoff @LaraFominoff on Twitter

AHS/ASH ask for tighter restrictions on public tobacco and cannabis use

Aug 8, 2018 | 10:26 AM

LETHBRIDGE – As the date for cannabis legalization nears, Alberta Health Services (AHS) and Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) are both asking City Council to consider a bylaw to restrict tobacco and cannabis consumption like smoking and vaping in all outdoor recreation spaces accessible to children and youth.

They include places like parks, sports fields, beaches, outdoor markets, outdoor events and local trails.

Currently, the City of Lethbridge only restricts smoking in playground areas.

ASH Executive Director Les Hagen, hopes the city considers their request.

“Now is as good a time as any, because we are faced with cannabis legalization, and hundreds of municipalities across Canada are dealing with this issue right now and determining how they are going to regulate the consumption of this product in public places.

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“We’ve been before this council before on several occasions and we certainly have over the years done our best over the years to encourage councils and provincial governments and the federal government to take further steps to address Canada’s most widespread and deadly form of drug abuse, which is tobacco.”

Hagen says Okotoks, Lloydminster and Wood Buffalo already have passed more restrictive bylaws.

The Provincial Government, with the passage of Bill 26, has authorized the public consumption of cannabis when legalization takes effect October 17. However, the Bill also authorizes municipalities to place further restrictions on the public use of cannabis.

“Unfortunately, the province left a number of loopholes in its restrictions including the very glaring loopholes of (smoking/vaping at) public events and parks that are largely frequented by kids,” Hagen emphasized. “So now, we’re having to go back to the municipalities to back-fill what the provincial government was not prepared to do.”

In a statement release in February, AHS states that it is “very concerned about the possible renormalization of public smoking that may result from cannabis legalization. Smoking bans are effective in reducing youth smoking and they are a cornerstone of the tobacco reduction effort. The public smoking of cannabis has the potential to reverse decades of progress in reducing the social acceptability of smoking in public and the resulting reductions in youth smoking.”

Council accepted and filed the information presented. Hagen hopes in the future that a motion is made to debate a possible ban on vaping or smoking cannabis and tobacco in the near future.