The idea of permitting cannabis use in select Calgary parks may go up in smoke ahead of Canada-wide legalization as the lone councillor willing to adopt the model questions its validity.
In the entire City of Calgary, only four locations were selected as potential pot parks and all were located in Ward 9. Councillor Gian-Carlo Carra says he was surprised to discover he stood alone in council in his willingness to accept the parks.
“I was hoping, naively, that we would have a whole suite of these public consumption areas and it would just sort of blend into the background of communities and they would be dispersed throughout the city. Really it’s boiling down to a couple of sites in my ward,” said Carra. “If there were hundreds of green benches dispersed throughout the city that someone could publically sit down and toke, I would be a lot less concerned.”
Carra says he thought the City would approach every community and ask the community to determine a location within its boundaries for a single pot park.
The four proposed sites in Ward 9 include two in Inglewood, one in Ogden and one in Bridgeland. Carra says he has received negative feedback to all four of the sites from those with legitimate concerns about the selected locations as well as individuals who appear to be struggling to accept the impending legalization of cannabis.
“This is an engagement process. The citizens are speaking, they’re engaging. It’s pretty clear that they’re not happy about this location,” said Carra. “All of the spaces, people have brought up very legitimate concerns about those particular spaces that weren’t captured in the criteria.”
Bill McNamee has lived near Murdoch Park in Bridgeland for more than a decade and questions the selection of the park for public cannabis consumption.
“Where he chose to say there should be a pot smoking area is right where all the kids toboggan down the hill all winter,” said McNamee. “Langevin School uses the park for phys. ed. It’s just a crazy spot to pick.”
Dozens of unsanctioned signs appeared in the park on the weekend bearing slogans ranging from 'Don't Doob It' to 'Keep Off The Grass' to 'Weed Rather Not' but have since been removed. A recent town hall meeting on the issue drew more than 100 neighbourhood residents with the vast majority opposing the plan.
As Calgary’s population approaches 1.3 million citizens, Carra says having only four public cannabis consumption sites would likely create a hyper-concentration and potentially lead to additional problems.
A public hearing of council on public cannabis consumption sites has been scheduled for October 9 but Carra says he is currently investigating whether the City is legally obligated to hold the session following the engagement period or whether the pot park plans can be quashed. “We’ve got to legitimately have a conversation about whether it’s worth our time to have a big public hearing on this.”
Carra says the pot park model did not land the way he had hoped but he continues to explore other options for cannabis use.
“I’m interested in creating an environment where it’s possible for citizens and visitors to our city to legally use a legal substance. Ideally lounges would have been the solution but those aren’t legal yet.”
With files from CTV’s Alesia Fieldberg
