Regulations that would restrict where and how medical marijuana patients can consume their weed has cannabis activists in Toronto lit up.
Close to 40 gathered at The Centre for Social Innovation Monday, April 18 as part of a Cannabis Friendly Business Association (CFBA) meeting, their collective energies focused on blocking the Smoke-Free Ontario Act (SFOA).
Back in November, the Liberals wrote an exemption into the Act intended to regulate e-cigarettes that medpot users believed would allow them to smoke or vape just about anywhere, although it was unclear at the time just how workplaces would accommodate the exemption.
The very next day, the province did an about-face, saying they would need to re-examine the issue.
The new proposed regulations would limit patients from vaping in hospitals, school dormitories and public housing, potentially putting out individuals who are already at risk. Opponents say patients would only be allowed to medicate in their private homes or public areas not governed by tobacco bylaws.
“Expanding the scope of the SFOA to capture medical marijuana as well as tobacco would provide businesses, employers, and the public with clear and consistent rules,” writes Ontario Ministry of Health representative David Jensen in an email response to NOW.
He continues that the proposal “is intended to provide reasonable and precautionary safeguards against second-hand exposure to medical marijuana smoke by members of the public, including employees, patrons and visitors to facilities that serve medical marijuana patients.”
Medpot advocates say it’s a smokescreen.
“Instead of making legislation and regulation around cannabis use that is set apart differently, they just did a 180 and slapped it into the Smoke Free Ontario Act because it was the easiest thing to do I think,” says CFBA organizer and Hotbox Cafe owner Abi Roach.
Roach says the proposed legislation would make it illegal for her patrons to vape in a safe space and has the potential to shut down all vape lounges in the city. It would also prohibit her employees from showing patients how to properly use vaporizers, which Roach likens to providing a diabetic with an insulin pump and not providing instruction.
“It is not tobacco: it is a Health Canada regulated medicine,” says Quito Maggi, a public policy expert from Main Street Research and former executive director of Legalize Canada. “There’s a big difference but the public perception puts it on the same level.” This supports claims that public reaction is what caused the province to quickly change its stance on public vaping.
However, according to the Ontario Ministry of Health, just because cannabis has been approved for medical use by the federal government doesn’t give patients carte blanche to blaze wherever they please. Regulations around where weed can be smoked across the country is governed by provinces and municipalities.
Conservative MPP Randy Hillier (Lanark-Frontenac-Lennox and Addington) is an unlikely medical cannabis advocate, but while not a medical marijuana patient himself, he says that forcing users to step outside to light up simply isn’t compassionate.
“People are more than what their disease is,” Hillier says.
The proposed regulations currently undergoing a review, would treat medical marijuana exactly like tobacco with strict laws governing where it can and can’t be consumed.
“This bill is too far reaching, it wasn’t thought through,” says Jon Liedtke, co-owner of Windsor-based Higher Limits, Canada’s largest cannabis lounge. He also questions how Premier Wynne can advocate for harm reduction policies with regards to safe injection sites but support legislation that would limit patients’ access to medical marijuana.
The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care is soliciting public input on the proposed legislation until April 24.
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