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No tobacco, pot smoking in PoCo parks, playgrounds

An updated smoking bylaw for Port Coquitlam that tightens where people can light up will apply to both tobacco and marijuana users.
signs

An updated smoking bylaw for Port Coquitlam that tightens where people can light up will apply to both tobacco and marijuana users.

The revised bylaw, which city council adopted Tuesday, bans smoking and vaping in public gathering areas such as:

• in parks, playgrounds, city trails, sports fields, sports venues, churches, halls, bowling alleys, schools, libraries and museums;

• on city streets during special outdoor events;

• and within 7.5 m of civic and provincial building entrances, air vents and windows as well as transit shelters and stops.

(The cities of Coquitlam and Port Moody also have a 7.5 m buffer around their city buildings).

“Smoking” is defined in the new policy as including cigarettes, cigars, pipes, e-cigarettes and other equipment used to smoke or burn tobacco, cannabis and other plant material.

Smokers are permitted to have a puff on sidewalks, streets and in parking lots, where allowed (exemptions apply for First Nations ceremonial uses and by actors in a theatrical production).

Coun. Brad West, who last September introduced the motion to amend the city’s 2002 smoking bylaw after someone lit up in Lions Park while his young son was at the playground last summer, said the cannabis reference was folded into the proposed policy last month to address the upcoming federal policy changes around recreational marijuana.

“We want to get ahead of the curve,” West said today (Thursday), referring to the July 1 deadline to legalize weed. “There is a lot more clarity now from the provincial government about how [marijuana] will be used and distributed, and municipalities have a lot of say on that.”

He added, “It’s difficult to say at this point how [marijuana smoking] is going to play out but I think this bylaw is a pretty good start in terms of public health and public safety.”

This spring, the city plans to ramp up its public education campaign on the new smoking rules with signs at parks, playgrounds and sports fields; fines will also be adjusted for the bylaw, which can be viewed online at portcoquitlam.ca/bylaws.

Meanwhile, West, who also chairs PoCo’s smart growth committee, said council — over the next few months — intends to look at new regulations for land use and business licensing for marijuana dispensaries.

Last year, the city introduced sweeping regulations to ensure PoCo retailers don’t sell pot before the federal legalization kicks in. Its move was in response to two recreational pot businesses that opened in 2016, including Cannabis Culture on Shaughnessy Street — a block away from Lions Park.

jcleugh@tricitynews.com