Pints ​​on terraces, but not in parks – why drinking alcohol in public areas is still so important

You can sip a cocktail at home, sip sangria on a restaurant patio, have a drink on a plane, and even sip champagne while getting a pedicure at some licensed locations. So why is it such a struggle to consume alcohol in a city park?

Several Canadian cities have recently dipped their toes into allowing it, under certain conditions, but not without opposition from some politicians, public health experts and concerned citizens.

Those who are against drinking in public areas have the health consequences of normalizing alcohol consumption and concerns about Driving under the influence and dangerous and disorderly conduct, among other concerns.

“We have this weird relationship with alcohol where it’s part of our lives, but once it becomes public, we view it as potentially problematic,” said Dan Malleck, the chair of health sciences at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ont., and a medical historian who specializes in drug and alcohol regulation and policy.

“In my opinion, a lot of the general associations we have with drinking in public are negative, such as being drunk in public, drinking and driving, like drunken thugs, all these things – which make the news, but are not necessarily the only ones. ” way people consume alcohol in public.”

Laws relax across Canada

Regina was recently poised to become the next Canadian city to allow drinking in a limited number of parks. But on Wednesday, his advice voted to submit the debate until their next meeting in August.

This comes after Saskatchewan gave city councils the power to designate outdoor public places for drinking, and Regina’s executive committee voted 6 to 4 to approve the policy changes, despite concerns from several city council members.

“There’s nothing wrong with a little responsible fun,” Ward 2 Count. Bob Hawkins previously told CBC Saskatchewan.

Other major cities such as Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary have recently expanded similar programs to allow drinking in certain public parks. In Vancouverdrinking is allowed year-round in 31 parks, in 16 additional parks in July and August, on seven beaches between June and September, and in selected town squares.

In Calgary, people are allowed to drink in some parks where they can reserve a public picnic table or use one on a first come, first served basis. You can also drink at select large picnic areas, a few open spaces in city parks, and some fire pits. Earlier this year, the Edmonton City Council voted to permanently allow drinking in designated city parks.

Montreal has one so-called picnic law with which you can drink during a meal in a picnic area.

A pilot program will be voted on July 19 in Toronto, and if it passes, people may be allowed to drink in 20 city parks during the summer. a urban research A report released in April found that 44 percent of Toronto residents supported the idea, with a third expressing “some degree of opposition”.

count. Chris Moise, who represents Toronto Center and supports the program, recently told CBCs Ontario today that pilots in other Canadian cities have run “really successfully”. He recalled his own experiences traveling abroad, including a trip to Amsterdam where he enjoyed drinks with friends on a park bench overlooking the water.

“We’re demonizing the situation and I really don’t think it’s necessary,” said Moise, noting that people are already drinking in parks.

“People are doing this responsibly, all year round all over the city. And I don’t want to be the morality police. I think Torontonians are smart enough to make their own decisions.”

‘Public health considerations’

In 2021 researchers from the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research at the University of Victoria released a report municipalities warn against allowing unsupervised drinking on public property. They cited increased risks of harm such as sexual assault, gender-based violence and a reduced ability to enjoy shared public spaces.

In a press release at the time, the institute’s director, Dr. Tim Naimi, said there were “important public health considerations”.

“As we know, alcohol can have significant negative health consequences and is responsible, even at low levels, for a wide variety of diseases, including several cancers,” Naimi said.

“It also creates more of a sense of ‘normalization,’ that we should be consuming alcohol anytime, anywhere.”

According to Statistics Canada, alcohol-related deaths in the country have skyrocketed.

In January, the Canadian Center on Substance Use and Addiction released its updated low-risk alcohol consumption guidelines, which state that no amount of alcohol is safe and no more than two drinks per week are recommended for men and women.

No supervision, no trust

Malleck, a medical historian at Brock University, says over the past century the idea of ​​drinking in a public place has been that it’s fine as long as it’s in a controlled public space, such as a bar or restaurant, where someone in a position of authority knows that if rules are broken, they could lose their liquor license. But in public, he says, there is no consistent oversight.

“This idea that alcohol itself is a problem, and that it’s a problem that has yet to happen and that it can happen to anyone, is embedded in that idea that people need to watch them,” he said.

“So it feels like we’re being treated like kids when we’re told not to drink in public, but it’s no different than what’s been going on all along, which is drinking is distrusted. Those people when drunk are distrusted .”

He notes that laws still exist around drunk driving, public intoxication, vandalism and violence. And there are still expectations about public behavior. For example, he says that someone who chooses to drink in a park should still get home safely, just as he would if he were drinking in a bar.

And just because someone can drink in a public park, he says, doesn’t mean they’ll get drunk and cause a scene.

“People’s concerns always go to extremes,” Malleck said. “But chances are the book club will go to the park and open a bottle of wine.”