“5, 4, 3, 2, 1…Happy 4/20!”, chant a sea of stoners as a cloud of pot smoke unlike anything the city has ever seen slowly rises out of the crowd.
At precisely 4:20 pm last Friday, hundreds of vendors and close to 40,000 pot enthusiasts joined in a communal toke to celebrate Vancouver’s 24th cannabis appreciation day.
This year, the annual protest and farmer’s market was a blend of iconic local activists and historic businesses with a swell of new faces brought out in light of recreational legalization. Unlike previous events, however, one new question was tossed around by local media and attendees alike: “Do we really need 4/20 anymore?”
I’ve been asked repeatedly ‘why do we still need a protest’ since cannabis is going to be legal soon. I’ve been told repeatedly that ‘420 is not a protest because there’s booths selling cannabis.’
— Dana Larsen (@DanaLarsen) April 23, 2018
The question, while pertinent, is woefully ignorant of the uphill battle the cannabis community faces over the next few years. When asked, most said the event will continue to serve as a celebration of recreational legalization, but moreso to remind people of the changes that still need to be made.
Founded on a platform of civil disobedience and fuelled by a fight for freedom, it isn’t entirely misplaced, however, to ask if the direction needs to change now that legalization is within arm’s reach. In an attempt to move away from the argument surrounding necessity, I posed a different question: ‘What is your 4/20 resolution?’ Instead of the New Year’s promise of brushing up on your Spanish, taking a trip to Iceland, or finally going to that spin class you keep avoiding, this resolution is a weed-themed-promise to hold onto until next year’s lawntroversy.
Some say they want to invest more time into personal weed-related endeavors:
“Cook more [with cannabis]!” – Connor McNamee, Farm & Florist
“Do more high art.” – Jason, Green Haired Freak Super Treats
“Buy land up in the valley and become a gentleman farmer.” – Cameron Noble, Noble Extracts
Some say they want to keep education at the centre of their focus:
“I want to help the general vibe and understanding of cannabis to come away from the dark side, the negativity, and move into a brighter place with less misinformation, for everyone.” – Kristan Hoskins, Narc Glass
“I am committed to spending the next year leading up to the next 4/20 reminding people that these kinds of events are why legalization is becoming a reality and also to remind people that these events will remain illegal under legalization. All of the booths, brands, companies, and entrepreneurs here today will not be allowed to do this under the legalization law, Bill C-45, and under any other regulations. So, we still have a lot to protest until this sort of thing is completely normalized and acceptable.” – Jodie Emery, activist
“To educate people to smoke cleaner and healthier weed. That is something that has bothered me for a while and I think people need to be taught that there is a difference.” – Mr. Cookie, Pot.tv
Some say they have already picked their next battle post-legalization:
“To help all of these people become legal under the new legalized world of ours. We’re going to keep going until everybody here is legal. Right now, with the regulations [the government] is proposing, nobody here is going to be legal. These are all criminals, every one of them.” – Neil Magnuson, activist
“My focus right now has got to be on debunking the ‘pot makes kids stupid and crazy’ myth and the ‘pot makes you a bad driver’ myth, so that we can treat pot like a soft drug and everyone can benefit from legalization…the young and the poor! […] I hope we can eventually treat weed like we do fair-trade coffee.” – David Malmo-Levine, activist
“My 420 resolution is to work hard to end the whole war on drugs, even harder than I have for the last however many years. I’ve got a lot of work still to do in cannabis, but with the kind of work I do I feel like there is less need for civil disobedience and more in negotiating the bureaucratic end of things, like getting zoning changed from 400 metres to 100 metres. It’s all very important but it’s not really my forte. I want to start moving onto fighting for the other plant medicines. There’s still a lot to do in cannabis, and I’m still going to be the cannabis guy, but it’s such a good time to talk about the whole war on drugs.” – Dana Larsen, event organizer and activist
Though this may be the last 4/20 under prohibition, the aftermath of the festivities sheds light on the importance of maintaining a foothold in society’s acceptance of legalized cannabis. The Vancouver park board’s decision to close Sunset Beach Park for ‘major rehabilitation’ sparked heated discussions on social media. The discourse alone shows the court of public opinion still remains harshly divided when it comes to the integration of the cannabis community into mainstream society, and there is plenty of work to be done before events like 4/20 are welcomed like the Canada Day festivities or the Celebration of Light.
Instead of asking whether or not these events are necessary, we should be asking: ‘What’s next in the fight for equality?’
