Many questions surrounding the federal law changes to permit the recreational use of marijuana in Canada remain without answers. That much is clear in what is rapidly becoming a very hazy debate.

In this first edition of “PERSPECTIVES”, we’ve tried to assemble some critical information that municipal leaders will need to help them navigate the next few months. There are more questions than answers right now. It is a minefield for local governments that have once again been placed in a remarkably difficult position because of the actions of senior orders of government.

Our lead essay comes from former St. Albert Mayor Nolan Crouse, who details a number of critical decision points that municipalities face. His exploration of Colorado cities and their lessons learned from implementation in that state provide particularly useful primers for Canadian city halls.

We have also received permission to present the position paper of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police. It is important for civic leaders to understand the challenges and concerns that are facing their hometown police departments. There will be significant impact on traditional policies and practices for local law enforcement.

Provinces and territories are scrambling to enact their own legislation. We have included the initial framework to their proposed policies from Yukon and from Prince Edward Island as examples of what provinces and territorial governments will be developing. What is critical is that it is becoming obvious that there will be differences from province to province to territory. Your City Clerk and Solicitor will be key allies for Councils. Municipal officials will have to carefully consider and understand the particular laws and regulations in their own jurisdiction.

This will place municipalities in a difficult situation. For example, Quebec is suggesting that marijuana smoking should be allowed in any public place where tobacco smoking is permitted—but is allowing local municipalities to make their own tougher restrictions. This is going to play out across the country, and may well result in differing laws and regulations from community to community.

The owners of businesses in this industry that are emerging are potentially going to be faced with a quagmire of differing regulations. People of a certain age may recall the early days of the smoking-in-public-places debate that raged in city halls in the 1990s and 2000s. A lot of businesses spent a lot of money to satisfy local bylaws, only to have the province swoop in eventually with new and different provincial standards that superseded local bylaws.

Dan Rowland, who was instrumental in developing Denver’s policies, has provided a really thoughtful and important article on dealing with city hall and community impacts. Do not miss reading this first-hand account of developing and implementing bylaws and regulations regarding cannabis.

Again, different policies in different cities in different provinces are going to prove challenging for everyone involved in this emerging public policy matter.

Finally, in my “CIVIC COMMENT” editorial at the end of this e-magazine, I offer some of my own thoughts about this debate.

This is very much a starting point for municipal leaders in dealing with recreational marijuana and the pot-holes (sorry, I couldn’t resist) in the road ahead. It is going to consume a lot of hot air and smoke (damn, sorry again) and frustration for Canada’s municipal leaders.

Hopefully this first edition of PERSPECTIVES will help to initiate and develop thoughtful discussions and planning in our town and city halls across the country. We are far from the end of this debate, but we felt it was very important to help municipal officials focus now on this very urgent and critical issue.

And as this is our first edition, we are particularly interested in your thoughts, ideas, suggestions and critiques. Send us a note to: PERSPECTIVES@municipalinfonet.com.

GORD HUME