BOWDEN - The Town of Bowden now officially has a cannabis consumption bylaw.
And if someone contravenes it, they could be hit with fines ranging from $250 to at least $2,000, depending on the offence.
Council passed the bylaw during its Nov. 13 meeting and it went into effect immediately.
The official title of the document is the Regulation of Smoking And Restriction of Consumption of Cannabis in Public Places Bylaw.
It prohibits anyone from smoking, vaping or consuming any cannabis product in any "public place, public premise or workplace" in the community, even if they have a medical document stating they can use it for medicinal purposes.
However, people are allowed to smoke or consume cannabis on private property.
And they can possess cannabis products in a public place, as long as the amount of that product is "a controlled amount as defined under the Cannabis Act or any other federal or provincial act or regulation."
If a bylaw officer, peace officer, RCMP officer or sheriff believes someone is contravening the bylaw, they can issue a ticket.
Fines for smoking, vaping or otherwise consuming cannabis in contravention of the bylaw can be as high as $250 for a first or second offence and a minimum of $500 for three offences or more.
Fines for unlicensed distributing or promoting cannabis products or accessories in contravention of the bylaw can be as high as $1,000 for a first or second offence and a minimum of $2,000 for a third offence or more.
During discussion on the bylaw, Coun. Carol Pion questioned the title, indicating she felt that the word "consumption" was sufficient, because smoking is implied in the world consumption.
However, Coun. Sandy Gamble disagreed.
She said it was prudent to have the word "smoking" in the title because that's separate from eating the product and should be specifically covered.
In the end, no change was made to the title of the bylaw.
"There's no change. It's regulating the smoking and consumption because consumption is edibles, that kind of thing," acting chief administrative officer Jacqui Molyneux said.
"Eventually we're going to get the edibles coming out so it covers that also so we don't have to go back and do any amendments to this."
Late last month, a bylaw to regulate consumption of both cannabis and tobacco was defeated because a few councillors, led by Pion and Coun. Randy Brown didn’t like the fact the bylaw regulated the consumption of both products in one document.
Brown and Pion said the two products are different, and thus should be dealt with differently via two separate bylaws.
Molyneaux was asked if a bylaw regulating tobacco consumption in Bowden will be enacted, now that one specifically dealing with cannabis consumption has been passed.
"No. I think it's just basically we're following the provincial law on that," she said.
