Large clouds of cannabis smoke are set to rise over a pair of Vancouver parks Thursday, as marijuna fans celebrate 4/20.
It’s the first time the annual “protestival” has returned at full scale since the COVID-19 pandemic and — as in years past — the events remain unsanctioned by the city.
At Sunset Beach Park, the site of numerous controversial 4/20 events in recent years, as many as 200 vendors had set their tents up, selling joints, cannabis edibles and pipes and other paraphernalia.
Glass blower Niko Barber-Hart, who has been attending the event for a decade, was selling glass pipes on Thursday, and said while there are still things to protest on the cannabis file, the mood of the event has definitely shifted since legalization.
“At this point it’s definitely more of a festival than a protest … so now you feel the atmosphere is more of a celebration and everyone getting together,” he said.
“Just the energy and community, getting everyone together. There’s not many events where you can have this many people together and there’s no fights, there’s no issues, and everyone is having a good time. That alone is worth coming down for.”
Alexandria Baust, who came to the beach to help a friend run their stall, said the event remains firmly political.
“For me it’s still a protest because I have multiple sclerosis, and I have children that have been prescribed medical marijuana that I can’t afford to give them,” she said.
“So for my whole family, myself and my two sons, this is something we could use but we can’t get from a pharmacy like our other medications because it’s just too unaffordable.”
Baust said her kids have been prescribed medicinal cannabis through BC Children’s Hospital, which requires them to go to designated pharmacies where the cost is “astronomical.”
A second event, where organizers say attendees will witness the rolling of the “world’s largest joint,” was scheduled at Thornton Park at Main and Terminal streets.
The City of Vancouver and Vancouver Park Board once again declined to approve either event, saying organizers had failed to meet the terms and conditions to obtain a permit.
Those terms included liability insurance, permit fees, adequate ground protection and safety and traffic management plans.
“That said, we respect residents’ Charter of Rights to protest, while ensuring public safety, protecting park assets and minimizing impacts to the adjacent neighbourhood and park users,” the park board said in an email.
The board also moved to limit the public impact of the Sunset Beach event, closing the Vancouver Aquatics Centre and the Sunset Beach washrooms, concession and parking lot.
“We’re still trying to figure out why it’s a protest event at all I mean cannabis was legalized across Canada back in 2018, and the protestors still seem to want to have this unsanctioned and un-permitted event,” Vancouver Parks Commissioner Tom Digby told Global News.
Vancouver police said they would have extra officers patrolling the area around both events.
Critics of the event have long maintained it is an unsanctioned festival, not a protest, with organizers taking unfair advantage of taxpayers.
According to a leaked memo from Vancouver city staff, the 2018 event cost taxpayers more than $583,000.
-With files from Emily Lazatin
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