KELOWNA — UPDATE – More than 250 people came out Tuesday night to join Sensible B.C.’s Dana Larsen during the launch of his campaign to legalize marijuana in Canada.
They each collected 100 free high-CBD cannabis seeds that Larsen has asked them to plant in plain sight, something that’s illegal in Canada.
notes from Doris Maria Bregolisse
Tuesday morning: The tour hasn’t officially started and it’s already generating controversy.
Marijuana activist Dana Larsen of Vancouver launches his cross-country tour today with his first stop in Kelowna.
Larsen is asking Canadians to ‘overgrow’ their cities with pot plants.
He’s giving away more than one million cannabis seeds to anyone who agrees to plant them either on private or public property.
“I want cannabis to be growing so openly and so commonly that the police just don’t bother arresting anybody for it anymore.”
Larsen admits he’s advocating civil disobedience in the push to have marijuana legalized in Canada.
“For me, the last step of legalization is Canadians having the ability to grow their own Cannabis and that’s what we’re going to do.”
He says legalization is actually underway in Canada at the municipal level.
“Right now it’s mayors and councils that are deciding how they want to deal with cannabis in their cities. When a mayor supports dispensaries, police don’t go after them. In cities where the mayors don’t like dispensaries, the police raid them. So really, a lot of it is happening at the civic level and not the federal level.
Larsen will be holding a public presentation tonight at the Prestige Inn. He had originally booked a venue at the Holiday Inn in Kelowna but had to change locations.
“A woman in Vancouver who doesn’t like the cannabis culture named Pamela McColl was calling all of my venues and threatening them. She actually called the police as well. The police called and said they were going to come watch my event. That has freaked everybody out and we got cancelled from our last venue but we found a good spot now — The Prestige Inn and we’re happy to be there.”
Larsen says three hotels have cancelled his booking because of the controversy his tour is generating.
His presentation starts at 7:30 where he’ll be giving away the seeds — packages of 100 at a time.
“If you can’t make it tonight, I would be happy to send you some cannabis seeds in the mail.”
Larsen’s tour will take him all the way to Halifax and will wrap at in Vancouver on April 20 for the annual 420 rally.
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