Marijuana
Culture In The Lower Mainland
BRADY EHLER THE OTHER PRESS (DOUGLAS COLLEGE)/
VANCOUVER — I love British Columbia. I have lived in the province all my life and I wouldn’t change it for the world. I love the land, I love the cultures, and I love the provincial tagline: “super-natural British Columbia.” It sounds so healthy and inviting, doesn’t it?
People from all over the world share my love of B.C., as is apparent by the thriving tourism industry. In 2005, B.C. made off with over $2.7 billion in tourism revenue. Wow, that’s a lot of money!
It’s not surprising that B.C. is known for its lush forests, majestic mountains, and rolling rivers. It’s known for its polite Canadian citizens, ethnic diversity, relaxed culture, and, of course, our world-class B.C. bud.
If British Columbia is the centre of pot culture in Canada, then Vancouver is surely the centre within B.C.. And if one were to put a magnifying glass on Vancouver, one area in particular would jump out: the “Pot Block,” famous for its high concentration of marijuana culture.
Ah yes, the world-famous (or infamous?) Pot Block. The Pot Block is home to, among other things, one of Vancouver’s most popular tourist spots: the New Amsterdam Café. What makes the New Amsterdam so special? Patrons are actually allowed to smoke weed in the café! The New Amsterdam is a marijuana-friendly environment, where any Dick, Joe, or Jane can walk in, order a two-dollar coffee, sit down and light up a fat Philly blunt without fear of persecution. If they like the place, they can even donate tips in the traditional form of change, or in the form of spare buds.
Oh, but there is more: the Amsterdam is also equipped with a sizeable retail section. They sell a wide variety of clothing: they stock hats, hoodies, t-shirts and toques. Also for sale is a large catalogue of pot-smoking paraphernalia: pipes, hookahs, double-boilers, bongs, cigarette cases, rolling papers, blunt papers, lighters, kif-catchers, hot-knives, shwagg-bags, roach-clips, and portable ashtrays, to name a few.
Blunt Bros., another prominent pot-themed store, used to sit on the same block before it was burned down, but there is another, still standing, well-known shop on the street. It is the British Columbia Marijuana Party Bookstore (BCMP). The BCMP does, in fact, sell a limited amount of books and magazines — however, it is much more than a bookstore. The main part of the store sells clothes, skateboards, and other fairly traditional products. However, there is a sub-store in the back called the Urban Shaman. The Urban Shaman is essentially a holistic drug store. Among their products are salvia, San Pedro cactus, and peyote — and it’s apparently all legal.
Also hidden away in the back of the store is a so-called “vapour lounge,” where patrons can “smoke” their bud through machines called vapourizers. The vapourizers heat the marijuana up to 447 degrees Fahrenheit without exposing it to an open flame. This produces a smokeable vapor that isn’t technically smoke, and can arguably be inhaled inside a commercial establishment without breaking laws prohibiting smoking indoors!
Aside from the stores on the Pot Block, there are dozens of marijuanarelated shops scattered throughout the city. Most places sell textiles or smoking accessories, but there are still places, such as the Kind Seed commercial outlet, where you can buy marijuana seeds and start your own crop. Vapour- lounges are starting to catch on, and are not uncommon in many of these pot shops. In more and more places in the downtown area, you can drop a couple dollars on a beverage in exchange for a relaxed pot-smoking environment.
But hold on a minute. Isn’t smoking pot illegal? How can these places continue to go on, letting people smoke in their establishments without getting busted by the cops? Former manager of the New Amsterdam Café Kelsey Parks explains: “[Blunt Bros.] got raided quite a few times by the police. The police really had no grounds for the raid[s], because what is illegal is the selling [and] purchasing of marijuana. At that current point in time, and even to this day there is no law stipulating [that] the actual smoking of cannabis [is illegal]. There are possession laws, but it has been nine years, if I am correct, since anyone has been busted for smoking a joint in the downtown area.”
Possession of marijuana (in any amount) however, is still illegal. The short answer of why the cops don’t regularly raid places like the New Amsterdam is because it’s probably not worth the time. The possession of small amounts of marijuana for personal use is not an indictable offence. Police officers have the option of merely giving the person in possession nothing more than a warning. Generally, the police have more important things to do.
Selling pot can be considered an indictable offence and the police certainly notice
In September of 2004, police raided Da Kine. The shop had been open for four months before the raid, and feasibly may have been selling pot the entire time! The owner, Carol Gwilt, actually went public about what was going on at Da Kine before the store was raided. Eight people were arrested as result of the raid, but amazingly, the store re-opened the following day (but they weren’t allowed to sell pot anymore).
Certainly, there are many marijuana activists in the Vancouver area, but few can doubt that standing in the centre of it all is the “Prince of Pot” himself, Marc Emery.
With the threat of his extradition to the U.S., Emery has quickly become one of the most famous marijuana activists in North America. Emery is a founder, former leader, and president of the British Columbia Marijuana Party. He once ran the HEMP B.C. retail store, and later had stakes in the Cannabis Café, a precursor to Blunt Bros. and the New Amsterdam. He is also the creator of Cannabis Culture Magazine, the Website, Pot-TV, and until recently, he was also the owner of Marc Emery Seeds.
Marc Emery Seeds was a mailorder seed company that shipped marijuana seeds across Canada and the U.S.. For six years, Emery ran his seed company openly, and made no pretense as to what kind of product his business sold, a fact Emery freely admits.
“Revenue Canada received $578,000 in personal income taxes (1999 to 2005) on income that was explicitly from the sale of marijuana seeds, and they always were aware of it. It said ‘Marijuana Seed Vendor’ on my tax returns. I explained my entire banking and money systems and always gave income tax all access to my accounts so they could verify everything I said was true . . . They knew how it all worked because I had nothing to hide.”
Emery had nothing to hide from the Canadian government, because, in his own words, “No one in Canada has ever been sentenced to jail for selling seeds. Only two people have ever been fined: myself in 1996 and 1998; and Ian Hunter, fined $200 in 2000.”
Unfortunately for Emery, U.S. drug laws are well-defined and much, much harsher. On July 29, Emery was arrested and he faces extradition to the U.S.. Emery had sold over 60,000 seeds to U.S. citizens. Under drug kingpin legislation in the United States, if Emery is extradited, he may face the maximum penalty of life in prison.
There seems little doubt, either way, that marijuana culture in the Lower Mainland will continue. If Emery is extradited, he then becomes a martyr for the cause. If he is tried in Canada, he will get a far lesser charge and will (sooner or later) continue his work.
Another West Coast pro-marijuana activist of considerable note is former Vancouver mayor and current Canadian senator, Larry Campbell. Campbell is famous for his “four pillars” approach to drug control, and for the establishment of Vancouver’s first safe injection site for heroin users. Campbell’s idea was to legalize marijuana and “tax the hell out of it.” Considering B.C.’s annual revenue from marijuana sales has been estimated to be between $4-7 billion, (wow, that’s really a lot of money) this would certainly be a proactive course of action.
More important to marijuana culture than all the big players combined are the masses of pot smokers that continue to smoke marijuana and support the cause. An example of the devotion of local pot-enthusiasts is the gathering for 4:20 Day (April 20).
Last April, an estimated 5,000 people gathered at the downtown art gallery to “celebrate.” The festivities mainly included those 5,000 people all lighting up at 4:20 p.m. and creating a gigantic smoke-cloud over the Vancouver Art Gallery square. There was also a giveaway for the best promarijuana sign, and the top prize was a half-ounce of high-grade marijuana. Marc Emery even showed up to promote Pot-TV by giving away rolling papers that advertised the website.
Although there is significant pressure from the U.S. for Canada to have tougher drug laws, Chrétien’s Liberal government introduced a bill to decriminalize marijuana. The bill was reintroduced under the Martin government, but nothing came of it. Needless to say, the current Conservative government did not reintroduce the bill. Still, the mere introduction of the bill marks a victory for marijuana smokers. It suggests that the Liberals and the NDP both support decriminalization. NDP leader Jack Layton even supports legalization.
Doesn’t legalization just make sense though? Vancouverite Dave Davis, 67 (retired), a non-pot smoker, offers his opinion: “I think it should be legalized. I know a lot of people that use it. They’re decent people. Maybe they don’t drink, they smoke marijuana [instead], so what’s the difference? What is the worse drug? Alcohol kills a lot of people. We don’t know what marijuana will do to you . . . If they sold marijuana at the liquor store, it would be the same as the booze. It would stop all this crap. So why doesn’t the government make their money off it, because they [pot smokers] are going to do it anyway.”
