Eastern Ontario health units want to ban cannabis smoking in multi-residential buildings

Public health officials in Eastern Ontario are supporting restrictions on cannabis smoking in multi-residential buildings. The biggest reason is second-hand smoke.

The pot ban would even filter into Smiths Falls where the cannabis industry has helped turn the town’s economic fortunes around. Yves Decoste is the tobacco program co-ordinator with the Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit.

“Second-hand smoke is second-hand smoke, whether it comes from tobacco, from cannabis, from the use of vapes, we still don’t know, there’s still no safe level of exposure.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Second-hand smoke is second-hand smoke, whether it comes from tobacco, from cannabis, from the use of vapes, we still don't know, there's still no safe level of exposure."

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Not having clear provincial regulations also makes it challenging for health units.

“The big work we’ve done around tobacco has been going since the ’50s,” said Dr. Paula Stewart, the medical officer of health for the Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit. “We’re hoping to build on that, that people understand that there is, for the second-hand part, a risk and we can build on that.

“It comes down to an individual choice and we hope that people will make wise choices.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It comes down to an individual choice and we hope that people will make wise choices."

However, those choices are still months if not years away. The Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit now joins others in this part of the province including the city of Ottawa in restricting smoking.