British Columbia released the results of a survey conducted by the provincial government exploring the possibility of cannabis consumption lounges.
According to the survey results, residents strongly favor allowing consumption lounges in the province, however, many voiced concerns about their locations, intoxicated drivers and public safety.
The report was conducted via telephone calls made to a random sampling of residents and online. Of those surveyed, 61% of telephone respondents were in favor of consumption lounges, while 34% of online respondents were in agreement.
Among telephone respondents who used cannabis, 84% said they strongly agree with allowing licensed consumption lounges, 4% were opposed, 13% were indifferent. Non-cannabis users were also in favor, but by a much slimmer majority: 48% were in support, 32% opposed and 20% were indifferent.
Online responses were much more polarized between cannabis users and non-users. Only 2% of cannabis users who responded online were indifferent to consumption lounges, while 4% were opposed and a whopping 94% were in favor. Meanwhile, 91% of non-users who responded online were opposed, with 6% in favor and 3% indifferent.
Those in support of consumption lounges also seemed fairly comfortable with them being in their respective neighborhoods with opposition from only 25% of telephone respondents and 3% of online respondents. However, 99% of both online and telephone respondents opposing consumption lounges also opposed them being located in their respective neighborhoods.
– Patrick Wagner