CALGARY—The city is weighing four areas in Inglewood, Bridgeland and Ogden where Calgarians will be able to publicly smoke a joint after legalization, but neighbourhood groups are questioning whether they’ll work the way the city is hoping.

All the locations are in Ward 9 Councillor Gian-Carlo Carra’s ward. He said on Friday that he was interested in exploring the public spaces so that the soon-to-be-legal substance isn’t restricted to the point that some people can’t access it. Under the city’s Cannabis Consumption Bylaw, consuming cannabis in public is forbidden, even after the Canada-wide Oct. 17 legalization date.

Smoking, vaping or otherwise consuming cannabis would be allowed in the designated spaces if they’re approved, which could help people who live in rental or condo housing, where cannabis consumption might be restricted. But some of the proposed sites are far-flung from the condo-heavy areas of the city’s downtown, raising questions about access.

Inglewood has two proposed sites: a green space at 11 Ave. S.E. between 11 St. and 12 St. — in between Cold Garden Beverage Company and Festival Hall; and a green space in the Wildlands parking lot on 9 Ave. S.E., past 22 St.

In Bridgeland, a possible space is set for Murdoch Park on the south end of 7A St. N.E., just behind the parking lot for St. Matthew Lutheran Church. And in Ogden, a field north of the shopping plaza that includes the Glenmore Inn at Glenmore Tr. and Ogden Rd. S.E. is the final public cannabis-consumption option.

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The sites are marked with information boards where Calgarians can leave feedback, and an online portal for responses will be open for two weeks. A public meeting of council on Oct. 9 will be a final opportunity for Calgarians to give input before council votes on whether or not to designate the spaces.

Calgary cannabis legalization project lead Matt Zabloski said Monday that councillor Carra was the only city councillor who expressed interest in researching public consumption sites, which is why spaces are being looked at only in Ward 9.

Neighbourhood associations reacted with trepidation about the spaces Monday.

Millican Ogden Community Association president Rick Smith said he is skeptical of the proposed site in Ogden, which is near a handful of businesses and some busy roads, but not much else.

“I don’t know whether they really do expect people to drive over there, walk across to the south side of the middle of the field at the bottom of an escarpment to smoke their weed,” he said.

He said he isn’t opposed to the idea of public sites where people can smoke, but in his view, the site the city has proposed is too far out of the way to serve its intended purpose.

“It’s in the middle of a field. Are they going to be able to snowshoe across there?”

Bridgeland-Riverside Community Association president Brian Beck said he was caught off guard by the idea that one of the public sites could be in his neighbourhood, and it’s likely to be a controversial idea in the community.

“(The site) is right beside the toboggan hill for kids, a lot of the neighbourhood schools use that area, there’s a public pathway there,” he said.

He said he hopes feedback about the site will be measured and thoughtful, but he expects the discussion within the community to be polarized.

“I think it’s going to inflame an already inflamed situation.”

Several criteria must be met for the sites to be considered, including being at least 150 metres from a school and 100 metres away from “areas used intensively by children.”

University of Calgary Cumming School of Medicine associate professor Fiona Clement said the results of consultations on public cannabis spaces are hard to predict, but preventing children from being exposed to marijuana isn’t something that will be new after legalization.

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“When you limit public consumption, you’re forcing people to consume in their home, which is where your child is,” she said.

“I do think that there is a risk to kids normalizing smoking. But let’s not forget ... we’re legalizing it, not inventing it.”

City council will ultimately vote on whether or not to set up the spaces, which are confined to a five-square-metre radius, and are set to be equipped with “tamper-proof ashtrays.”

Zabloski said the spaces will be evaluated on an ongoing basis, and they might not be necessary if cannabis lounges become legal in Alberta in the future.

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