Where should smokers be able to light up?
That is a question provincial and municipal governments have been asking themselves for the better part of two decades and for the most part a question they felt was solved.
In 2008, Alberta banned smoking and vaping in public spaces and workplaces, basically anywhere indoors where people congregate, through the Tobacco Reduction Act. The legislation also limits where people can light up outdoors to five metres away from buildings’ doors, windows, and air intakes. In addition, some public institutions such as Alberta Health Services, have banned smoking on its properties altogether.
This is, of course, is to limit people’s exposure to second-hand cigarette smoke, which has been scientifically proven, after countless studies, to be harmful. Unfortunately, there isn’t the same volume of data to draw upon when it comes to marijuana, but preliminary results suggest similar health risks exist.
In 2016, a study published in the Journal of American Heart Association, Dr. Matthew Springer and his team at the University of California, San Francisco, exposed lab rats to secondhand-levels of both tobacco and marijuana smoke.
After one minute of exposure to either kind of smoke, the rat’s blood vessel function was impaired by about 50 percent. This effect is short-term, but experts suspect that repeated exposures lead to long-lasting damage and the poor cardiovascular health seen in cigarette smokers.
Another research study, published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal in 2017 from University of Calgary’s Cummings School of Medicine says THC — the active ingredient in marijuana — is detectable in the body after as little as 15 minutes of exposure even if the person is not actively smoking it. The study’s principle author Dr. Fiona Clement also points out that people who inhale second-hand marijuana smoke have reported getting high and subsequently that could also mean they are legally impaired when behind the wheel.
Given this research, perhaps it is time for the Town of Barrhead to reopen discussions on creating its own smoking bylaw to prohibit the act on all municipally-owned property.
Admittedly the bylaw would be difficult to enforce. Drinking in public is also illegal, but all you have to do is go to Fort Assiniboine, or the Barrhead Sportsgrounds any weekend when there is a baseball or softball tournament to see how often the law is ignored.
However, that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth the attempt. Driving impaired whether it is by alcohol, marijuana or some other narcotic is dangerous and if by instituting a smoking ban across the board, prevents one death or serious injury, it is something that at least needs to be considered.
