CRD adds vaping and cannabis to Clean Air Bylaw

CRD adds vaping and cannabis to Clean Air Bylaw
CHEK

The CRD was amended the Clean Air Bylaw to include burning or vaping of any substances.

The Capital Regional District (CRD) has amended the Clean Air Bylaw to include burning or vaping of any substances, including cannabis, in public spaces.

The CRD approved the amendment at its April 11, 2018 meeting.

“Amending the CRD bylaw is the logical next step in bringing provincial and local regulations into alignment,” said CRD Board Chair Steve Price in a release. “As community leaders of the day, today we need to follow the good work that the leaders before us established with the current clean air bylaw.”

According to the CRD, the amendment ensures people are protected from the “potential immediate and long-term health consequences related to second-hand emissions from any substance that can be smoked or burned.”

“The changes to the bylaw will build on the CRD’s continued commitment to the health and wellbeing of all Greater Victorians,” said Dr. Richard Stanwick, Island Health’s chief medical health officer in a release.

“These added measures are especially important for children, youth and people with underlying health problems associated with exposure to smoke.”

The first Clean Air Bylaw was implemented in 1999 and made all indoor public spaces 100 per cent smoke-free. In 2007, the bylaw was amended and all businesses were required to make patios where food and beverages are served or consumed smoke-free.

In 2014, a new bylaw was adopted by the CRD to increase the scope of the tobacco smoking ban. The bylaw made all parks, playgrounds, playing fields, public squares and bus stops smoke-free. It also extended the smoke-free buffer zones outside doorways, windows and air intakes from three metres to seven metres.

 

 

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