Pubdate: Thu, 21 Apr 2016
Source: Vancouver 24hours (CN BC)
Page: 4
Copyright: 2016 Vancouver 24 hrs.
Contact: http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/letters
Website: http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3837
Author: Ada Slivinski

TIME FOR VPD TO MAKE 420 ARRESTS

Why do pot smokers get a free pass with their illegal activity on city
land?

When the reefer revelers are all gathered in one place, police should
round them up and fine or arrest them. Though it makes sense that
policing pot is not a priority for the Vancouver Police Department,
there is one day of the year they should make an exception - 420.

Vancouver Police Chief Adam Palmer, when asked about the drug, told 24
Hours, "Marijuana falls into the scheme of things, but definitely low
down in priority."

This has been the VPD's line on marijuana for years.

Of course on most days, using police resources to hunt down teenagers
with a joint in their parents' basement doesn't make sense, but when
they are all gathered in a public place, engaging openly in illegal
activity, too drugged up to make a getaway or resist arrest, half the
work is already done. Arrests should be made and fines doled out.

At least then the "protest" could help compensate taxpayers for costs
associated with traffic disruptions, inevitable clean up and emergency
room visits. Last year, 64 people - including teenagers - flooded the
St. Paul's Hospital ER suffering from nausea, vomiting or heart
palpitations after participating in the pot party.

Let's not forget that although Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has
promised to legalize the stuff, recreational marijuana is still
illegal. Imagine if some other illegal activity went on out in the
open this way. If sex workers were to set up prostitution booths on
the beach, would we allow it?

The 420 event is not a protest, it's a party, yet somehow, without the
explicit permission of the City of Vancouver, it grows more organized
and sophisticated every year. Roads are closed, a stage and booths -
many of which have been booked and paid for in advance - are set up
and marijuana is sold in broad daylight.

This year, the event has outgrown its Vancouver Art Gallery home and
moved to Sunset Beach, causing the Park Board to close the Vancouver
Aquatic Centre for fear of a hotboxing effect.

Of course, anyone who wants to plan any legal event on city land has
to go through mountains of paperwork before they come close to putting
tent peg in the ground. In this city, smoking of any kind in public
parks can result in a $250 fine, but the over 20,000 smokers using
illegal drugs at an organized event? They get a free pass.

It's a double standard and it's time it stopped.  
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D