Richmond Hill bans recreational marijuana in public

Councillors voted in favour of new bylaw at special meeting Thursday

Yorkregion.com
December 19, 2018
Kim Zarzour

The Town of Richmond Hill says nope to dope in public spaces.

In a special meeting Thursday, councillors voted unanimously in favour of a new bylaw --based on models set in Calgary and Markham --forbidding recreational smoking or vaping cannabis on public property.

That means no lighting up anywhere that is accessible to the public including parks, trails, parking lots, town facilities, sidewalks, roads, shopping malls and other retail, commercial and business establishments.

The new rules do not apply to medical marijuana users, who have their own set of rules under provincial legislation.

The three municipalities’ are among the first in Canada to invoke strict conditions on lighting up, with rules that mirror the approach laid out by the previous Liberal government that prohibited cannabis consumption on all public property.

When the Progressive Conservative Party took power, the rules were loosened to allow recreational cannabis wherever tobacco smoking is allowed (with the exception of motor vehicles and boats).

The province allows municipalities to pass bylaws with further restrictions.

Markham was the first municipality in the GTA to do so, in a unanimous council vote Oct. 16, one day before recreational pot became legal.

Calgary passed a similar bylaw related to the recreational consumption of cannabis in April.

Richmond Hill’s new bylaw modelled that of Markham based on a suggestion, from York Regional Police, that a standardized approach in the region would make enforcement easier, said chief administrative officer Neil Garbe said.

But enforcement remains a concern for the town.

Bylaw officers do not have the power to “compel," i.e. force someone to show identification in order to ticket those who disobey the bylaw, and enforcement falls on YRP, a concern raised by several councillors.

“The bylaw sounds great, but if we can’t implement it and police can’t respond because they have more serious matters to address, does this becomes toothless?” Regional Councillor Vito Spatafora said.

The province has made available to municipalities $10,000 a year for the next two years for training and enforcement, but that, according to Spatafora, is an insult and “just a drop in the bucket.”

Town staff agreed bylaw officers will be limited in their ability to enforce the new rules. They may ask users if the cannabis is for medical purposes, for example, but the individual can choose to answer or can answer falsely, or choose to not answer at all.

“The key is going to be education,” Garbe said.

Haiyan Jiang, who said she is a mother and Richmond Hill resident, spoke to councillors about her concerns regarding the impact of legal marijuana on children. She said she and other families support council’s new bylaw, but worry about kids’ exposure to edibles that resemble candy.

The federal government has said marijuana-infused edibles will remain illegal for another year.

Susan Korman, who is running for mayor in the upcoming election, called the hastily called meeting underhanded, morally wrong and unnecessary.

"I believe that the only reason the mayor held this unnecessary council meeting on cannabis is because it supports his and his followers own agenda on the cannabis file. If the mayor and council truly believed an emergency existed around cannabis, then why did they not deal with this matter months ago?”

Mayor Dave Barrow said new provincial rules, permitting smoking outside of personal residences and allowing municipalities to add further restrictions, were just announced by the province last week.

“I think we have to protect everyone right off the bat,” he said.

The town still recognizes a citizen’s right to legally obtain and use cannabis, he added.

"This bylaw is the wise thing to do,” he added. “The health and safety of our community is of utmost importance. The key will be public education.”

GOOD TO KNOW

The smoking or vaporizing of recreational cannabis is prohibited in all public places in Richmond Hill. Public places include any place to which the public has access as of right or invitation, express or implied, regardless of whether it is owned by a public or private entity and any motor vehicle located in a public place or in any place open to public view. It’s important to note that medical cannabis users will be exempt.