By Times Chronicle Staff

The Province of British Columbia has received feedback on public interest in permitting and regulating “cannabis consumption spaces.” 

Cannabis consumption spaces is a generalized term that refers to cannabis lounges, establishments or sites that have cannabis for sale and use on-site. 

In spring of 2022 the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General sought feedback through a telephone survey, an online survey, and written submissions from people in BC, stakeholders and Indigenous partners on whether these spaces should be permitted and whether they would visit them.  

It was found that 61 per cent of telephone survey respondents supported the consumption sites. 

Only 34 per cent of online survey respondents supported the sites, but the study notes that the difference in these results could be based on the research methodology. 

The report says that the online survey was at greater risk of “self-selection bias” which means people who are either strongly for or against the question responded. This skewing of the type of people in the data may not reflect as accurately public opinion on the matter. This compares to the much more demographically and geographically representative randomized sampling that the telephone survey received. 

Most people who are cannabis users were the ones in support of the spaces, as were cannabis retailers, producers, and generally people with vested interest. As expected, in contrast to this, people who did not use cannabis were generally unsupportive, as were people from some public health and safety organizations and some local governments. 

Among those who supported the idea, cafés or lounges were the spaces that received the most interest. Most of the respondents who were against the idea said they were unlikely to attend events or go to businesses that permitted cannabis use. 

The largest concern respondents had about the idea was the co-presence of alcohol and cannabis, and a potential increased risk of impaired driving. 

There have been no decisions on consumption spaces, and the province will be conducting a further analysis of issues raised by these results.