SmokeDog420
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Vancouver, B.C. -- After work, James strolled inside a crowded Hastings Street cafe in his sage-green stockbroker's suit, pulled out a bud the size of a golf ball, broke it up and rolled a joint as casually as if he were shelling pistachios.
Like a wine expert who knows everything about his favorite vintage, James knew exactly what marijuana he was smoking: "MC-9, a strain of skunk bud No. 3." He also could describe exactly how it was grown and how it made him feel. "It does the body good." He exhaled. "It gives you wobbly legs."
James danced in place, then passed the joint to Robert, a construction worker he just met. They shared another joint and raved about how wonderful it was to smoke pot in public without fearing arrest -- although their puffing was still illegal, which is why they asked that their last names not be published.
At first glance, this recent 6 p.m. crowd at Blunt Brothers cafe looked like any happy hour in North America -- except the smoke smelled different, there was no alcohol, and nobody was boisterous.
Until fire gutted it recently, Blunt's -- its motto: "A respectable joint" -- was the centerpiece of a gritty half-block strip of Vancouver that has earned the city the nickname "Vansterdam" and inspired High Times magazine to crown it the world's best tourist getaway for pot enthusiasts.
The strip, which doubles as headquarters for Canada's movement to legalize marijuana, is the product of a gentlemen's agreement with police that allows pot smoking as long as there is no dealing or other drug use.
But it frosts U.S. drug czar John Walters, who sees Hastings Street as alarming proof of a lax attitude that has turned British Columbia into one of North America's marijuana growing and smuggling hotspots.
Marijuana seizures tripled along the northern border during the past three years, as did the U.S. forces charged with intercepting the illicit herb. Still, B.C.'s motorcycle and ethnic gangs continue to pour high-quality pot into the Northwest by car, truck, plane, boat, backpack and snowmobile. In February, a 16-year-old American girl was caught sneaking 8 pounds across the border in her school bus.
Source: Oregonian, The (Portland, OR)
Author: Jim Lynch
Published: Sunday, May 09, 2004
Copyright: 2004 The Oregonian
Contact: letters@news.oregonian.com
Website: OregonLive.com
Like a wine expert who knows everything about his favorite vintage, James knew exactly what marijuana he was smoking: "MC-9, a strain of skunk bud No. 3." He also could describe exactly how it was grown and how it made him feel. "It does the body good." He exhaled. "It gives you wobbly legs."
James danced in place, then passed the joint to Robert, a construction worker he just met. They shared another joint and raved about how wonderful it was to smoke pot in public without fearing arrest -- although their puffing was still illegal, which is why they asked that their last names not be published.
At first glance, this recent 6 p.m. crowd at Blunt Brothers cafe looked like any happy hour in North America -- except the smoke smelled different, there was no alcohol, and nobody was boisterous.
Until fire gutted it recently, Blunt's -- its motto: "A respectable joint" -- was the centerpiece of a gritty half-block strip of Vancouver that has earned the city the nickname "Vansterdam" and inspired High Times magazine to crown it the world's best tourist getaway for pot enthusiasts.
The strip, which doubles as headquarters for Canada's movement to legalize marijuana, is the product of a gentlemen's agreement with police that allows pot smoking as long as there is no dealing or other drug use.
But it frosts U.S. drug czar John Walters, who sees Hastings Street as alarming proof of a lax attitude that has turned British Columbia into one of North America's marijuana growing and smuggling hotspots.
Marijuana seizures tripled along the northern border during the past three years, as did the U.S. forces charged with intercepting the illicit herb. Still, B.C.'s motorcycle and ethnic gangs continue to pour high-quality pot into the Northwest by car, truck, plane, boat, backpack and snowmobile. In February, a 16-year-old American girl was caught sneaking 8 pounds across the border in her school bus.
Source: Oregonian, The (Portland, OR)
Author: Jim Lynch
Published: Sunday, May 09, 2004
Copyright: 2004 The Oregonian
Contact: letters@news.oregonian.com
Website: OregonLive.com
