Global Marijuana March in Vancouver

The Global Marijuana March in Vancouver was a huge success this year, with well over 500 participants, despite a rainy lead up to the march. We marched for 2km down to the beach, smoking over 1lb on the way, and then had two huge smoke-ins at the beach with the sun shinning down upon us.

This year, I called the City of Vancouver, the Vancouver Art Gallery and the Vancouver Police Department well ahead of the rally to inform them of our site plans, march route and destination plans. We weren't able to afford a permit for the event, but the city didn't require one since this was a political rally.

The city called to wish us luck the day before the rally, a Vancouver Police Sargent called to go over any final prep, and confirm they would not be busting pot smokers, they just wanted to keep everyone safe; welcome to planning pot-rallies in Vancouver.

By 11:45am when Nicole and I arrived at the Art Gallery with the two vehicles, the police were already on hand, and the crowd was already smoking with impunity. The police busied themselves with traffic violations and completely ignored the crowd of law-flouting marijuana activists.

By noon, the Sargent that had called the day before approached groups asking for Jacob, he was directed over to a group of us, including two medical users, smoking budder and joints. I left the group to chat with him, he said nothing of the smoking, didn't ask for any licenses, and just wanted to introduce himself and shoot-the-shit. As he stood and watched, volunteers handed out joints to the crowd and created a fair sized cloud of pot-smoke. The Sargent chuckled.

By 2, the rain was stopping and our numbers had swelled to well over 500. everyone was smoking, there was a 5' bong and David-Malmo Levine and Michelle Rainey were pumping up the crowd. As we started the march, the Vancouver Police began shutting down streets and escorting us along the route, people stood on the sidewalks cheering and taking pictures.

As we marched, bus passengers, drivers and pedestrians took advantage of all the freely available marijuana. We passed two tourist buses on the way. The tourists seemed pretty confused as to why a huge crowd of people was shutting down traffic, smoking and passing out weed in front of a group of police. The crowd chanted and smoked as we approached English Bay, eventually passing the van with our music and marching ahead of it, chanting the whole way.

When we got to the beach, the music was quickly silenced as the West-End apartment dwellers flooded the police with complaints. We continued smoking and speaking regardless and managed to consume 2lbs of marijuana with the crowd over a 2 hour period at the beach.

For those interested, the logistics of the March were: A minivan with a Canadian Tire battery pack with a 100w active speaker, a DJ mixer, Microphone and an Ipod with Music by the lovely and talented Rihannon of CCHQ. We have a great relationship with the city of Vancouver, and they are very supportive of our events. We did have to shut the music down, and did so. This was a slightly contentious issue, ultimately, we decided to give in to the police and get on with our massive public smoke-in. In the future, we will be working with the city to find an alternate location that fits our criteria for exposure and theirs for not pissing everyone off (ultimately, a good goal for any activists who depend on public opinion such as ourselves).

We're gearing up for a big Cannabis Day celebration at the Art Gallery on July 1st with live Reggae acts, Djs and lots and lots of smoking, keep checking the BC Marijuana Party website for more details!