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“You should be considerate.”

But Keating added there may be a need for the city to allow dedicated spaces for consumption, like marijuana cafes or lounges — a move currently under consideration in Ontario, where a cannabis use in public is banned across the province.

“There may need to be certain places where you consume it like a lounge,” Keating said. “There may need to be something set aside similar to that, but it would have to be for cannabis consumption alone, not cannabis and alcohol.”

Coun. Evan Woolley said he is in favour of the proposed bylaw but would be “amenable to public persuasion,” saying city rules around cannabis use could “evolve” as legalization becomes a reality.

While the current proposal would include fines for public, non-medical cannabis use, Woolley said he hopes police will use a “common sense” approach to ticketing and enforcement.

“I think we need to give law enforcement all the tools they require to manage this. At the same time, our police officers are able to use their discretion, and I think that that’s a very important thing.”

Previous surveys have suggested Calgarians are divided on the subject of public cannabis consumption.

A telephone survey found about55 per cent thought that cannabis use should be treated like alcohol, rather than tobacco, which would prevent it from being consumed in public spaces; about 32 per cent felt it should be treated more like tobacco.

But an online survey conducted by the city late last year saw more support for the public consumption of cannabis, similar to the rules for tobacco. In that survey, 43 per cent were in favour of allowing some public cannabis use, while 19 per cent were in favour of treating it similar to alcohol.

Hagen said the city has also missed an opportunity with the opening up of decades-old smoking laws to further restrict tobacco use in public, particularly in places accessible to children. Hagen said it shouldn’t be easier to smoke tobacco in public than cannabis, since tobacco is the far more deadly substance.

“It is a huge lost opportunity,” Hagen said. “Tobacco kills about 47,000 Canadians annually. Cannabis is less than 1,000.

“We don’t want tobacco to be left out of the equation, especially when it kills 47 times more Canadians.”

mpotkins@postmedia.com

Twitter: @mpotkins