Months after marijuana legalization, the MD of Bonnyville has finally set some framework when it comes to their cannabis consumption bylaw.
“It’s been a longtime coming. The reason for that, is because I wanted to wait until some municipalities had theirs in place… so we could use some samples from those other municipalities," explained director of public safety Chris Garner at the MD committee meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 6.
Although discussions have taken place around the topic, a formal bylaw hadn't been presented until this point.
Garner has recommended the municipality ban the consumption of recreational marijuana in public places such as Kinosoo Ridge, parks, trails, and sidewalks.
“What’s been happening with cannabis, is the province has said you can address it in two ways: like liquor or smoking,” Garner detailed.
In some cases, the MD has decided to take a similar approach as their smoking bylaw. This is the case for restaurants and businesses, which means use of the drug isn't permitted and proper signage must be posted.
There's a complete ban on the consumption of cannabis in public areas, which includes recreational facilities, child care facilities, the ski hill, tennis courts, walking trails, outdoor theatres, sports fields, playgrounds, parks, pools or splash parks, outdoor patios, outdoor ice rinks, and bike parks, among others.
While the provincial regulations cover some areas, Garner noted they don't "drill down the types of places we would have here."
“For example, the province has decided in their provincial campgrounds to allow cannabis consumption with certain conditions. For us, we take that a step further and say you can only consume it in your actual camper, not out in public areas."
Some councillors, including Coun. Ben Fadeyiw and Coun. Darcy Skarsen, expressed concern with allowing people to smoke cannabis in their trailer.
“For me, it’s all about the smell,” stated Fadeyiw.
Reeve Greg Sawchuk noted if the municipality were to ban it, "now you have to police it."
Garner said, “I don’t see it much different than liquor in a public place. We’re going to get a complaint and we will go there and deal with it. I’m hoping it won’t be a constant thing where we’re going out 24/7 for cannabis complaints. I don’t think that’s what it will be."
He added, there could be some issues with prohibiting users from consuming cannabis in their RVs, because "the law considers that RV to be that individual's dwelling house while they're in the campground."
“We may have to make changes on the fly with our bylaw, because it's such a new thing for us. If we go total prohibition, we may have compliance and we may not get very many complaints. We may never have it tested even. But from my experience, and the legality of that RV being that individuals home while they’re staying in our campground, I could see that there would be some court action if we were to write someone a ticket for consuming cannabis in that recreational vehicle,” Garner continued.
So far, the MD has received some complaints about the smell.
According to Garner there have been a few cases at the ski hill.
“I think this is going to be a bylaw where I may have to come back to council, do some house keeping, depending on what we actually see when the summer hits and how things go in our campgrounds and parks,” he expressed.
For Coun. Mike Krywiak, the province and federal government should have taken care of these regulations, instead of forcing local municipalities to write consumption bylaws.
“It’s too bad that each council has to make their own bylaws… these bylaws should have been made by the province or the federal government and been the same for everyone."
Council agreed to bring the bylaw back to council for further discussion, and will look into holding an open house for the public to provide input.
