Windsor health unit urges ban on pot smoking and vaping in rental units

Trevor Wilhelm - thegrowthop.com Posted 5 years ago
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The Windsor-Essex County Health Unit plans to start pushing landlords to ban people from vaping or smoking cannabis in their homes.

The health unit board discussed the resolution Thursday to “encourage” all landlords, multi-unit housing owners, and public and social housing operators to adopt the policy — which includes medical marijuana — in their rental units and properties.

Such a ban would mean that tenants could not smoke or vape in their apartments or houses. The health unit adopted a similar policy in 2014 for tobacco smoking.

“We just changed the language to recognize now we have legalized cannabis, and also vaping as well as hookahs have become fairly large issues in our community,” said Nicole Dupuis, the health unit’s director of health promotion. “We’ve seen a greater use. There are health risks for all of those substances as well, in particular when you talk about smoking behaviour.”

The resolution includes pushing to have all future public and social housing developments in Ontario made smoke and vape-free from the start. The resolution also calls on the Ontario Ministry of Housing to develop policies and programs to facilitate the provision of smoke and vape-free housing.

There are other ways to take your medicine

Dupuis said the Windsor Essex Community Housing Corporation has already adopted the no smoking policy in its properties.

The ban is entirely voluntarily for landlords, she said.

“If they choose not to do so, there is no legislation that is forcing them to do that,” said Dupuis. “It’s really up to them.”

When it comes to pushing for building-wide bans, the health unit lumps medical marijuana into the same category as recreational weed.

She said the Smoke-Free Ontario Act’s ban on smoking in public or shared areas includes medical marijuana. The health unit is “just extending that into the entire building,” she said.

“It’s still, we would say, the same thing,” said Dupuis. “Just the like the Smoke-Free Ontario Act includes legalized recreational cannabis, it also includes medicinal. So when we talk about smoke-free outdoor spaces, it doesn’t change because it’s medical.

“There are other ways to take your medicine. There are pills, there are oils for medical marijuana. Teas, creams. There’s pretty much anything you can think of.”

Related

  • Health unit reminds businesses to post no smoking signage
  • Health unit launches cannabis awareness campaign
  • Despite council support, slim odds Windsor gets a pot store in 2019
Vaping is included in the resolution even though the verdict is still out on the health hazards of secondary exposure, she said.

“It’s not a regulated health product,” said Dupuis. “There’s not a lot yet known about the extent of the health risks for vaping. So the recommendations are to treat vaping products, especially for secondary exposure, similar to other smoke products. There is vapour that gets released, so there are potentially some dangerous health risks to that and there is just not a lot known. So why put others at risk when you don’t know?”

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