BOWDEN - As of Oct. 17, it's legal to consume cannabis for recreational purposes in Canada, but details on where it can be consumed in Bowden are not expected to come up for approval until this Monday, Oct. 22.
Plans call for provisions outlining those rules to be included in a revision of the town's nuisance bylaw.
Council discussed proposed rules earlier this month after receiving a request for guidance from interim chief administrative officer Jacqui Molyneux.
In a memo, Molyneux outlined three options.
The first was to totally ban smoking or vaping of cannabis in all public places, including public buildings, highways streets or roads, alleys, and parks.
Interim chief administrative officer Jacqui Molyneux noted that would be similar to the current Gaming and Liqour Act, which, she said, bans consumption of alcohol in all public places -- indoor and outdoor -- except under licence.
The second option was to ban smoking or vaping of cannabis in all public buildings or workplaces, but allow it in open public spaces like parks, with no restrictions there.
The third option was to ban smoking or vaping of cannabis in all public places, but allow it in public spaces like parks, although with certain restrictions, such as banning it within 50 metres of a playground, skate park, sports field, school entrance, day care facility or any other place where minors might be.
Molyneux wrote that in all cases, people are allowed to consume cannabis in private homes except in a home-based business where people work there but don't live there.
After some discussion, councillors indicated they preferred option 1 because they believed options 2 and 3 would be harder to enforce when consumption is allowed in some places, but not in others. They believed it would be easier to enforce when the rules are the same as they are for alcohol consumption.
"The thing I am concerned about is putting it in food and having it near the schools -- at the schools," Coun. Sandy Gamble said.
"That's going to be pretty hard (to enforce)," Coun. Kerry Kelm said.
"It's going to happen, it's going to happen, and these young kids are going to get it," Gamble said.
"And how dangerous it is for the smoking of it around little kids. And the brain damage it does," she said.
Reports say edibles and drinks infused with cannabis won't likely be available on store on shelves for about a year as regulators work out rules for their sale.
Enforcement is going to be difficult in any case, Mayor Robb Stuart indicated.
"If you put in a total ban and I'm walking down the street (smoking cannabis), who are you going to phone and tell them to enforce it? RCMP? They're not going to come in the time that I'm (consuming that joint)."
"I'm OK with option 1, as long as it's like the ALCB liquor one," Coun. Randy Brown said.
"But we don't enforce the smoking (rules) now," Mayor Robb Stuart said. "When you walk into the arena you blow through 30 people who are smoking cigarettes. And we've got to enforce that before we even enforce cannabis."
Coun. Carol Pion was rather cynical.
"People are going to be very creative in how to get through this bylaw, no matter what's done," she said.
"Well it's legal, so they'll think they can just do -- whatever," Stuart said.
Pion agreed.
"That's exactly it. So we need to have the wording and have it written so that we do have some sort of recourse," she said.
Brown questioned how practical it would be to enforce options 2 and 3 with their exceptions to an outright ban. Other councillors agreed that could be a problem.
"And the thing is that we can always relax something, but we can never go in the opposite direction," Coun. Kerry Kelm said.
Other councillors echoed that point.
Kelm said signs outlining the town's cannabis consumption rules will have to be posted at entrances to the community.
Councillors also pointed out the rules will have to be posted on the town's website, in local newspapers and the town's newsletter.
Stuart said the town should have hammered out its cannabis consumption rules weeks ago.
"I'm not blaming you, because I thought we'd just steal one from somebody at the AUMA (Alberta Urban Municipalities Association convention), really," he said.
However, Brown pointed out other communities didn't have rules in place either.
"I think it's going to be a collaboration of a lot of different places. This is going to be a lot of going around, getting different proposals and putting it together," Pion said.
