cannabisnews.com: Vancouver Tourism: Gone To Pot? 





Vancouver Tourism: Gone To Pot? 
Posted by CN Staff on June 25, 2003 at 18:32:34 PT
By Adrian Nieoczym 
Source: Peak
Vancouver is world renowned as a vacationing stoner's paradise. It is a reputation that has taken many years to cultivate, feeding on the growth of a vibrant marijuana industry, a tolerant legal atmosphere and active promotion by commercial ventures looking to profit from visiting cannabis aficionados. Yet even though Vancouver is known as the Amsterdam of the Pacific Northwest, reefer related businesses have a tenuous existence, operating as they do under the cloud of prohibition.
Even though B.C.'s economy has become dependent on the marijuana trade, the law still makes the sale and possession of marijuana technically illegal. Even the recently unveiled federal marijuana decriminalisation bill - legislation that, in any case, is still a long way from being passed - does not alter the legality of the trade. The full extent of Vancouver's pot tourism is impossible to know. "I'd be naïve if I didn't say that people aren't interested in coming here because of that marijuana, but how many, who they are, what type of person and so on, that's not something we would keep track of, or have any stats on," says Walt Judas, Vice President of Marketing, Communications and Business Strategy for Tourism Vancouver. Vancouver's main neighbourhood pot cafés, Blunt Brothers and the New Amsterdam Café, however, both advertise in High Times magazine - the infamous American marijuana culture publication with a circulation of over 200,000. The cafés hope to attract foreigners to our shores and through their doors. Our pot tourism received a big boost last summer when High Times picked Vancouver over Amsterdam as the best place on the planet to smoke up. The magazine cited the quality of B.C. bud, its availability, and its price - half of what it costs in Amsterdam. "It is a very tolerant atmosphere," the magazine's executive editor Dan Skye said at the time. "You could walk down the street smoking marijuana and no one bothers you." And it's not just pot-focused publications that have remarked on Vancouver's popularity as a haven for tokers.Wired magazine published a piece called Getting Dot-bombed in Vancouver about recently laid off techies living in Silicon Valley who are coming up to B.C., "looking to slack off until the economy improves" by indulging in our primo weed while taking in the spectacular scenery. Meanwhile, the Lonely Planet - a.k.a. the backpacker's bible - features a sidebar in their British Columbia guide under the heading "B.C.'s Booming Pot Industry" and notes that "it's certainly not uncommon to smell wafting pot smoke on the street" in Vancouver. According to Stewart McKay, a manager at The New Amsterdam Café, tourists are visiting his establishment in droves, having heard about its existence through advertising and word of mouth. "We're getting a lot of Americans - mostly Americans, actually. They're pretty excited, they're paranoid, they're everything! They're very excited to see something like this close to home, they can indulge a little bit of freedom when they come here." You have to love the irony of people from the land of the free having to travel in search of freedom.News of the federal government's recently tabled legislation to decriminalise the possession of small amounts of marijuana is getting lots of media attention all around the world. If passed, the legislation calls for possession of less than 15 grams to be punishable by summary fines of $150 rather than by jail time. Workers at downtown youth hostels already have to caution inquiring backpackers who erroneously believe that pot is legal in these parts. While passage of the legislation would likely further enhance our Vansterdam image and thus result in even more marijuana-seeking tourists, McKay is not a fan of the proposed legislation. "I don't like decriminalisation, I think it would have an adverse effect, because then they'll be handing out tickets to everyone and once people start getting tickets, then that's the end. It won't take long for word of mouth to get around." If it starts to be seen as a heavily policed pothole, more tourists may start to avoid Vancouver.The ultimate answer for McKay is legalisation, "so it's more like Amsterdam." Legalisation, according to McKay, would stabilise the legal environment and eliminate many of the criminal elements. This is a position echoed by the B.C. Marijuana Party in a document called A Vision For the Future: "The B.C. Marijuana Party envisions a prosperous future for growers in a legalised cannabis economy." It sees the nature and value of the marijuana industry in ways that make it very similar to the wine industry, "in which châteaus produce wines of various qualities and characters." The party envisions a situation where "there will be thousands of coffee shops, at least one in every town, hamlet and city, selling dozens of varieties of marijuana," resulting in a windfall for the B.C. economy.While decriminalisation will not bring the legalised utopia craved by the Marijuana Party and its supporters, neither are McKay's fears likely to be realised. The police already allow that stretch of Hastings Street occupied by the New Amsterdam Café, Blunt Brothers and other purveyors of marijuana smoking accessories to operate as a de facto red light district. Considering how dependent B.C. is on both tourism and marijuana, it is unlikely that this city's power brokers and economic elites are going to want the police doing anything that would negatively affect pot tourism - as long as it is confined to a specific zone. The worry for Tourism Vancouver is that pot tourism will turn off the more conservative, but bigger spending, tourists who come here for business conventions or on cruise ships. "We haven't taken a position on that [the establishment of a red light district], but if that were to happen, then certainly you want it contained in a specific area. Then you can inform your customers about where it is if they don't want to encounter that."In July of 2001, the province's Organised Crime Agency (OCA) estimated the annual value of marijuana production at more than $6 billion per year, placing it just behind forestry and tourism - valued at $14 billion and $8 billion, respectively - as one of the main industries driving the B.C. economy. The Marijuana Party position paper on fiscal policy points out that since marijuana is itself a major tourist draw, "many of those tourist dollars should be added to the value of the marijuana crop, which could make marijuana B.C.'s most valuable resource." On July 14, 2001 a Vancouver Sun article credited the marijuana trade with directly supplying the province with up to 150,000 jobs and estimated that when all the economic spin-offs are taken into account, the trade could account for as much as 15 per cent of B.C.'s economy. All that illegal money gets washed into the "legitimate" economy when drug growers and dealers buy legal products like hydroponics equipment, clothing and cars.On the face of it, it would seem that Canadian society is moving in a positive direction. The liberalisation of our marijuana laws and our popularity as a pot-positive destination certainly appear to be harbingers of increased personal freedoms in this country. But are they? Don't be so sure. Ultimately, having more freedom means having more control over one's way of life, but how we are able to live is dependent on how we subsist economically.Since the 1970s, Canada has been two-stepping along with neo-liberal restructuring of the global financial system and has been handing the tasks involved in regulating our economy over to international markets. The result is that Canada - a state containing all the resources it needs to be self-sufficient within its own borders - is in a situation where the economic well-being of its residents is dependent upon the export of commodities to satisfy the whims of foreign (mostly American) consumers. Traditionally, Canada has been an exporter of natural resources - notably fish and wood. Recently, the fishery on both coasts has been almost completely exhausted by over-fishing, while the American government regularly initiates softwood lumber disputes, resulting in the export of forestry jobs to the U.S. and a drop in wages paid for the work that remains here. Tourism, officially an export industry with its lower paying service jobs, has filled much of the void left by these declining industries. According to Tourism B.C., an agency of the provincial government, the commodities exported by the tourist industry are "experiences," even though consumers have to come here in order to consume them. When our economic health - and thus, our social health - is dependent on providing visitors with satisfying tourist experiences, then we are in a position where all our decisions about how to structure our society are made with an eye to making sure that our landscapes are comforting for tourists. Public spaces like Gastown become organised in ways so that they are appealing to tourists, while police actively keep out the poor and dispossessed. Regardless of the actual reality of our communities, we will always have to be worried about how other people perceive them and we will make our choices accordingly.As Walt Judas of Tourism Vancouver puts it, "There are a few things that paint us with a black eye. One is panhandling, another is small crime, and the third is that people often stumble into the Downtown Eastside on their way to Chinatown, or they venture off the Gastown path and they find themselves in the middle of a very vibrant drug scene. That is very disturbing to them and, even though one could argue that the incidences of personal assaults or even safety is really not a factor at all, it is still unsettling for people." What worries some concerned citizens is that the sensibilities of tourists will be given more weight then the rights of residents when important decisions are to be made. Already, the conversion of single occupancy room hotels into backpacker hotels has reduced the amount of housing available to residents of the Downtown Eastside. Although the global marketplace has decreed that both tourism and marijuana are to be important foundations of our economy, neither is particularly stable and they are becoming increasingly intertwined. Even though Americans consume the vast majority of the marijuana produced in this province, the American government uses our pot industry as an excuse to engage in a little sabre rattling whenever it feels the urge, while tourists remain an incredibly fickle lot. International travel to B.C. in March was down 13.3 per cent compared to March of 2002 - a decline Tourism B.C. attributes to SARS and the war in Iraq. If tourism is going to dip every time the U.S. goes to war, we are in big trouble.Our ability to feed our families, have universal health care or be a vibrant nation is becoming dependent on visiting tourists with disposable incomes who have a hankering to get high. The British Columbian economic base is becoming less first world and more third world - like Mexico's or Thailand's - which, if it wasn't for this wonderful buzz, could be pretty depressing.Source: Peak, The (CN BC)Author: Adrian Nieoczym Published: Issue 8 - Vol. 114 -- June 23, 2003Copyright: 2003 Peak Publications Society Contact letters mail.peak.sfu.caWebsite: http://www.peak.sfu.ca/Related Articles & Web Sites:Blunt Brothershttp://www.bluntbros.com/B.C. Marijuana Partyhttp://www.bcmarijuanaparty.ca/Make Tourism a Joint Effort http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16565.shtmlHigh, Neighbour! - Globe and Mailhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16468.shtml
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Comment #3 posted by FoM on June 26, 2003 at 10:14:55 PT
Kegan
When we get our e-mail list people will be able to submit articles that way I believe. I need to ask Richard if we can get it set up soon. I think we'll call it CNEWS. 
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on June 26, 2003 at 08:06:44 PT
Thanks Kegan
I just finished posting it. Here it is and thanks! I was taking a few minutes and looking at the web sites. They are good!http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread16697.shtml
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Comment #1 posted by Kegan on June 26, 2003 at 07:40:20 PT
Read this
I ain't sure how to submit this stuff here, so..... here it is...Newshawk: CMAP ( http://www.mapinc.org/cmap )
Pubdate: Thursday, June 26, 2003
Source: Kingston Whig-Standard (CN ON)
Contact: whiged thewhig.com
Website: http://www.kingstonwhigstandard.com/
Author: Greg McArthurMarijuana: ‘Everything’s in limbo’By Greg McArthurLocal News - One of Canada’s biggest marijuana activists has some advice for
potheads in his home town of Kingston.“If police take your cannabis away, talk to a lawyer,” said Mike Foster, the
owner of one of the biggest headshops in Ottawa and a founding member of the
Marijuana Party of Canada.“If it’s not illegal, they can’t take it.”Since May 16, when an Ontario Superior Court judge upheld a lower court
decision to quash a charge against a youth for simple possession of
marijuana, it’s become increasingly unclear how much authority police can
exercise over someone caught with less than 30 grams of pot.Like police across the province, Kingston Police have changed the way they
deal with simple possession.Anyone caught with under 30 grams will be investigated and the pot
confiscated, but officers won’t lay charges until someone – whether it’s the
federal government or the Supreme Court – makes a decision about the
legality of simple possession, said Insp. Brian Cookman.“The bottom line is, we’re going to investigate and we’re going to seize the
marijuana,” Cookman said.Foster, an outspoken advocate for pot smokers, runs Crosstown Traffic, a
popular shop in the nation’s capital that sells everything from rolling
papers to pipes to comic books.The 48-year-old also helped publish the first children’s book on medicinal
marijuana, called Mommy’s Funny Medicine.He went to high school in Napanee and spent his early 20s in Kingston. His
homes on Earl Street and Victoria Street were subject to frequent RCMP raids
in the early 1970s.He said the court decision means that pot smokers such as himself can
consider their pastime legal – no matter what police say.“It’s technically legal,” he said.The Criminal Code of Canada, which outlaws simple possession, gives officers
the authority to investigate people with under 30 grams of pot, Cookman
argued.But he acknowledged that the May 16 decision has blurred the law.“It’s a very difficult spot they’ve left us in,” he said.Kingston Police aren’t the only ones who’ve had to change the way they
handle simple possession.Five people who were accused of simple possession of marijuana had charges
withdrawn by a federal Crown attorney in Kingston on Tuesday – adding to a
growing list of local pot smokers who are dodging convictions.“They were surprised … it’s been a lucky break for them, that’s for sure,”
said federal prosecutor David Crowe, who has been instructed to withdraw or
stay simple possession charges while Ontario’s cannabis laws remain up in
the air.“Everything’s in limbo,” he said.With the federal government’s proposal to decriminalize possession of under
15 grams still before the House of Commons and no firm cannabis law in
place, prosecutors aren’t attempting to try someone for simple possession.Some Crown attorneys, such as those in Lanark County, have been staying
charges, which allows them to reinstate the charges within a year.Crowe said he’s opting to withdraw the charges completely.The longer the charges are delayed, the more likely they’ll be defeated
later on, he said.Defence lawyers are also preparing for clients who might take police to
court if their pot is seized.If an officer seizes a few joints from someone at a party and marijuana is
later decriminalized by Ottawa, it may open Kingston Police to a lawsuit.“No doubt someone will try it,” said Clyde Smith, a Kingston defence lawyer
who has had simple possession charges withdrawn against a few of his
clients. “That could be interesting.”Cookman said all marijuana seized by Kingston Police is packaged and sent to
Health Canada for testing to determine if it is cannabis.When it is returned to police, it is stored, sealed and numbered.If Ottawa eventually decides that simple possession isn’t a crime – a
decision that won’t likely come about until at least the fall – pot smokers
could theoretically go to police headquarters and ask to have their weed
returned.“If you’re going to want your dope returned after it’s been sitting in a
vault, I guess it’s possible,” Cookman said.“It is plant material so it will degrade to some degree.”But until the federal government makes a decision on the proposed
decriminalization legislation, the law will continue to be fuzzy.Even though everyone has different opinions on the issue of possession –
from police to activists to lawyers – they all want the same thing.Ottawa needs to take a stand, they say.“We are here to enforce what society deems us to enforce. If society
dictates that possession of cannabis is no longer important to them, then we
will go with the flow,” Cookman said.“But is it a confusing time? You bet.”
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