On April 19, Vancouver parks board voted unanimously to ban smoking in the city’s 200 parks and 18 kilometers of beaches, extending the current ban on smoking within 6 metres of doorways, open windows and ventilation. The extension comes into force on September 1 this year.
The next day, April 20, is an unofficial holiday in Vancouver – an event which, according to the supporters and mcs at the event, “doesn’t happen anywhere else in the world”; but due to the timing, it seemed like a knee-jerk reaction to the new law.
Four-Twenty is a North American institution, celebrating cannibas culture, leaning towards acceptance and legalisation of the drug. The Vancouver celebration saw stalls erected to sell marijuana and paraphrenalia, with around 3000 people collecting around Robson Square and the Vancouver Art Gallery, most of whom were openly smoking pot.
Along with the vendors, the square had a lot of music (live and canned), dancers and street performers; including the ubiquitous Spandy Andy.
Although the event was mainly about cannibas culture – including stalls where political lobbyists tried to sign up people to pro-marijuana political groups – there was also a strong anti-war message, with many stalls dedicated to pulling Canadian and American troops out of the Middle East as well as one protesting the military involvement in Haiti.
Vancouver itself is very liberal when it comes to cannibas. The 420 celebration was monitored by police, but drug laws were not enforced. The art gallery had ambulances on standby and the city had hired people to clean up the site. In other words, the city was entirely behind the “smoke-in”.
I overheard someone speaking to a policeman:
“Hey officer, how did it go for the most part?”
“It gave me a sore head.” (laughing)
The site itself was in a very prominent place, hemmed in between the art gallery facade, Sears and the Fairmont Hotel.
And of course, there was attention from the mainstream media.
As a sidenote, the gallery facade is a handpainted mural called “A Modest Veil” in the style of Taiwanese fabric designs, designed by Taipei-based artist Michael Lin. The mural “invites visitors to reconsider the building’s history and its neo-classical architecture, while celebrating the city’s diverse cultural traditions,” according to the gallery’s press release, which becomes all the more potent when combined with a gathering of this size, transcending racial divisions. The mural itself is also a wonderful reflection of the city during this month, since most of the streets are lined with blooming cherry blossoms.
