Vancouver, a.k.a. Vansterdam, is known as the "Amsterdam of the Americas" for it's liberal attitude towards marijuana use. Although marijuana is still technically illegal inVancouver, and all of Canada for that matter, police in Vancouver generally turn a blind eye towards marijuana use, even in public. Visitors to Vancouver looking for a truly "green" experience are usually referred to the city's "pot block" - the 300 block of West Hastings street in downtown Vancouver. Here, you will find several seed banks, vapor lounges (where customers bring their own marijuana and rent a smoking device known as a vaporizer) and the BC Marijuana Party (BCMP) headquarters. At the center of it all is Cannabis Culture - the store owned by famous Canadian marijuana activist Marc Emery who is currently in jail in Seattle for selling marijuana seeds to Americans. Cannabis Culture sells everything from weed t-shirts to marijuana-inspired games, smoking accessories and marijuana magazines.
celebration (April 20th is the international pot smoking day) at the Vancouver Art Gallery
has seen over 10,000 visitors in recent years. Marijuana t-shirts can be seen in the
display windows of many stores throughout Vancouver, and it's not uncommon to
smell marijuana smoke wafting through the air when walking through the city.
July 1, Canada's birthday, doubles as Cannabis Day in Vancouver where a crowd
congregates at the Vancouver Art Gallery to protest against the continued
criminalization of the drug. Vendors sell everything from weed t-shirts to
to smoking devices to marijuana itself with police standing a few
meters away.
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