Puff, puff, pass? Greater clarity needed on cannabis best practices for Ontario festivals and events

Whether you’ve willingly packed into the crowded tents of Kitchener-Waterloo’s Oktoberfest, enjoyed a local beer fest or visited any of Ontario’s many open-air music festivals, chances are you’ve been greeted by an earthy, skunky scent or two as it wafted by.

Cannabis has become just as much a feature of Ontario’s many annual, outdoor public events as alcohol is. But last fall’s legalization of recreational cannabis has charged organizers with yet another cumbersome administrative task: the obligation to integrate cannabis into their event’s execution.

As Dave MacNeil, CEO of Festivals and Events Ontario, explains, there are still considerably more questions than answers.

What role does Festivals and Events Ontario have in regulating cannabis at events?

DM: We don’t oversee any of it; we’re not a governing body. We provide education and marketing tools, and advocate on the festivals’ behalf—with BIAs (business improvement areas), municipalities and with the Ontario government. We’re sort of the voice of the industry.

What is your sense of the scope of how the infrastructure of festivals will be affected by legalization of recreational cannabis? It’s already a billion-dollar business in the province.

DM: It’s genuinely hard to say exactly how many events will be impacted, but Ontario hosts about 2,500 festivals each year. Regulations differ by how certain municipalities and venues choose to handle it, so it’s really case-by-case. I can’t see it being allowed at more family-friendly events. Also, venue operators could decide, based on their insurance policies, that they don’t want to allow it. At events with smoking zones, they will have to be checking for the age of majority.

Dave MacNeil is the CEO of Festivals and Events Ontario.

But right now, there are a lot more questions than answers with respect to [best practices] for integrating cannabis into events. It’s something that comes up at our conferences: There’s a lot of risk involved. You’re not able to monetize any cannabis sold on site, and any infractions could really complicate your liquor licence. There’s no reward for taking that on right now.

Even Ottawa Bluesfest is talking about having a fenced-off area [for consumption], in addition to some educational material. But they have to be careful they’re not in contravention of Section 16 of the Cannabis Act, which covers education.

How are festivals thinking about cannabis from a marketing perspective?

DM: Per the law, we’re not allowed to use any marketing dollars from cannabis companies. If you think back to the days of Big Tobacco, they dumped a lot of money into promotion into the arena of arts and culture events. With smoking, because there is a long-standing legal [precedent], there are established precautions in place, and you have a way of monitoring service. Even at music festivals, there used to be a lot of cannabis products, growers, sellers, but none once it became legalized. Say you had a major festival and you wanted to have a cannabis lounge, there’s no monetary return on that. But what if you charge for entry to the lounge? Is that legal? Right now, there’s no clear answer on that.

So it’s like starting over. I think this will be a telling year for how we move forward.

From a health and safety perspective, how are EMS workers being trained on possible intervention?

DM: There’s no right way to do that with cannabis, yet. At a recent conference we hosted, the Chief of Police for Waterloo region explained that the forces are developing more and more tools to tell the difference between alcohol and cannabis impairment, but it’s still early in the game. From a risk management perspective, we have Smart Serve counselling festival workers that impaired is impaired, period. It will be a bigger issue once edibles come into law. Still, we don’t want to “what if?” every issue to death.

Are there concerns about vendors selling products that are not legal?

DM: It’s really easy to gloss over what’s legal and what’s not. At this point, there’s not much we can do to discern the difference. We’re suggesting that any of our members seek legal counsel. It’s the responsibility of the organizer to vet its vendors. If you think something is off, you should probably stay away from it.