Pubdate: Fri, 01 May 2015
Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON)
Copyright: 2015 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact: http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/letters.html
Website: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/326
Author: Joanne Chianello
Page: A6

MAYOR'S VIEW ON POT VAPOUR CLOUDS ISSUE

Let's start with how Mayor Jim Watson is right.

He's right to be frustrated over the city's apparent inability to do 
anything about the marijuana smoking going on at Buzz On.

It's a ludicrous set of circumstances that finds the city with the 
authority to strictly regulate the smoking of tobacco - which is 
perfectly legal - while simultaneously having its hands tied when it 
comes to restricting the consumption of a largely illegal substance.

That's why Watson called this week for the police to crack down on 
the patrons of the marijuana vapour lounge.

"My belief is it's an illegal activity and the police should be 
taking appropriate action if illegal activity is taking place," 
Watson told reporters after this week's council meeting. "If they're 
smoking marijuana in a storefront, then it's illegal."

The mayor reiterated several times his call for police to charge the 
folks at Buzz On, and he's right that police action seems to be the 
only action anyone can take in the face of this operation that falls 
between the cracks of vague federal laws and too-specific provincial ones.

But being right isn't always enough.

Watson's insistence on police action is a bit tone-deaf on a number of fronts.

First, if the police did round up a bunch of weed smokers with the 
intention of charging them, it could backfire. Some folks may have 
licences to possess marijuana for personal medical use. And because 
the federal law governing medical marijuana currently doesn't specify 
that it cannot be smoked in public, those licensed users wouldn't be 
breaking any laws. So police would have to be uber-careful about not 
arresting these law-abiding folks.

(For anyone under the impression that Buzz On is not a public place 
because it sells memberships, think again. The courts have ruled that 
almost anywhere other than a private home is a public place, and that 
includes clubs.)

And what if police did round up a dozen people who each had an 
illegal joint? What's the likelihood a judge would throw out those 
charges? If that happened, it would actually encourage the very 
activity that Watson is trying to tamp down.

So when Watson says that if illegal pot-smoking is happening, the 
police should move in, "plain and simple," it's anything but.

That's not to say that police should do nothing, especially if, for 
instance, there was concern there might be trafficking going on. 
Chief Charles Bordeleau said the force is keeping an eye on the 
situation, which is likely the right thing to do at this early stage 
in our vapour-lounge development.

Because Ottawa is not the first place to find itself with a marijuana 
lounge. What Watson's reactionary response fails to acknowledge is 
the trend of more of these vapour lounges opening.

Whether his reasons are personal or political, the mayor won't be 
able to stamp out this emerging issue by sheer force. The strategy 
hasn't worked with Uber, the illegal taxi service that seems more 
popular than ever, which Watson wouldn't concede was here to stay. 
(Council has agreed to review the taxi bylaw this term.) The mayor's 
refusal to discuss the possibility of the City's considering a 
supervised injection site, despite evidence that such a site can save 
lives, falls into the same category of stubborn black-and-white thinking.

Perhaps a better game plan for Watson would be to lay off the call 
for police action for now while figuring out what to do, like putting 
in a formal request for the province to widen the scope of the 
Smoke-Free Ontario Act, which specifically bans tobacco consumption 
in public areas. (In town Thursday to be recognized as a nation 
builder by Famous 5 Ottawa, Premier Kathleen Wynne said she was open 
to changing the laws, if that's something municipalities want.)

The mayor is right to take the issue of vapour lounges - or 
supervised injection sites, or Uber, for that matter - seriously. But 
leadership also means understanding which ways the social winds are 
blowing and adapting responsibly to reflect those shifts.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom