The City of Hamilton openly permits and licenses businesses centered around alcohol, cannabis, gambling, and adult entertainment. These industries generate tax revenue and licensing fees despite overwhelming evidence linking alcohol and intoxicating substances to impaired driving, addiction, emergency room visits, violence, and significant public health costs. According to the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), nearly 15,000 deaths each year in Canada are attributable to alcohol alone, and substance use places a greater burden on Ontario than all cancers combined. 

Meanwhile, the Government of Canada continues to warn that cannabis impairs reaction time, judgment, concentration, motor skills, and driving ability, making impaired driving one of the leading criminal causes of death and injury in Canada. Recent Ontario research also continues to monitor alcohol and cannabis use among injured drivers because of their role in serious collisions. 

Yet Hamilton has chosen to completely prohibit adult-only herbal shisha lounges through By-law 23-170 instead of regulating them responsibly.

Herbal shisha contains no tobacco, nicotine, THC, or alcohol. It does not produce legal intoxication or cognitive impairment comparable to alcohol or cannabis. Unlike bars and cannabis retailers, herbal shisha lounges are peaceful, seated environments where adults gather to socialize over tea, coffee, and conversation. For many Middle Eastern, North African, South Asian, and other communities, these lounges represent an important cultural tradition and one of the few sober nightlife options available.

Cities across Ontario already regulate businesses that present substantially greater public safety risks through licensing, inspections, age restrictions, fire codes, ventilation requirements, and health regulations. If these regulatory frameworks are considered appropriate for alcohol, cannabis, gambling, and other adult establishments, there is no reasonable basis to impose a complete ban on adult-only herbal shisha lounges rather than regulating them in the same proportionate manner.

A total prohibition destroys small businesses, removes culturally significant gathering spaces, reduces consumer choice, and disproportionately affects communities that choose sober social environments instead of alcohol-centered nightlife. Evidence-based public policy should regulate according to actual risk, not eliminate peaceful businesses while permitting industries associated with far greater documented harms.

We call on Hamilton City Council to amend By-law 23-170 by replacing prohibition with sensible regulation, including adults-only (19+) access, ventilation standards, fire safety requirements, licensing, inspections, and informed liability waivers. Hamilton should support small businesses, preserve cultural traditions, and provide safe, sober nightlife options for its residents.

(Photo by Bulat Khamitov)