The city’s pot poll is out. It’s now up to council to decide what direction the city should take when updating its bylaws.
The city allocated $50,000 for public consultation and education, which included an online survey, a direct access survey and a ‘World Café’ discussion.
Slightly more than half of respondents (52 per cent) felt smoking and vaping should be prohibited in public, while 41 per cent thought it should be allowed in the same places as tobacco.
Rather than siding with the majority of survey respondents and banning public consumption of cannabis altogether, councillors at Monday’s committee of the whole meeting appeared to take the middle road between these positions by suggesting the smoking bylaw be amended. While we won't know the specifics until next month, St. Albert does have a stronger smoking bylaw than many municipalities and hopefully the city will stay that course with cannabis.
One wonders what threshold of public support would be required to see an outright ban on public use but, council is right in not putting too much stock in self-selected surveys. Public opinion should be just one consideration when it comes to a significant undertaking like cannabis legalization. Council also needs to weigh feedback from experts in health, education and enforcement as well as advice gathered from jurisdictions that have experienced legalization including municipalities in Colorado and Washington.
Although most who took the survey supported a ban on public consumption, the majority (60 per cent of the public survey respondents) think cannabis use should be allowed in designated areas at festivals and events. This would be a significant change for St. Albert considering we currently don’t allow tobacco smoking at outdoor public events, except in parking areas. This shows the type of contradictory responses that can happen in this type of public response. In most parts of the survey – including where stores can be located and where cannabis can be consumed – survey respondents were fairly conservative, except for the festivals question. It will be interesting to see if council chooses to explore the smoking at festivals issue and whether this could mean changes for the tobacco smoking rules as well.
While the survey results may provide some interesting insight into public opinion, ultimately councillors need to keep in mind their commitment to a family-focused community and use that to guide them in their deliberations. The public appears to favour a conservative approach and councillors seemed to concur at Monday’s meeting. City council needs to follow through.
