I thought pot was supposed to mellow you out.
I guess not, if the billowing clouds of reactionary rage to from last week are any indication. In case you missed it, I called out the annual 4/20 pot 鈥減rotest鈥� (festival) as being annoying, illegal, and ultimately irrelevant, since the legalization of cannabis in 2018.
My blunt point: you won, it鈥檚 legal, go home. And stop polluting Sunset Beach Park.
Many people from both sides of the marijuana patch angrily exhaled all over social media.
Here鈥檚 what some of you had to say:
鈥淢ore sniveling and whining from a typical 麻豆传媒映画elitist, or someone who thinks they are. Put on your big girl panties and help promote something that makes 麻豆传媒映画awesome instead of whining about permits.鈥� 鈥� Shawn Golley
鈥淪o inaccurate! It is still a protest against the unfair and capitalist-driven cannabis policy in Canada. 4/20 protest until shit鈥檚 fair!鈥� 鈥� Liv Maxwell
鈥淭here are thousands of people that are now completely unable to access the medicine they need because the prices and quality are unreasonable and inaccessible. And there is no legal place to consume the plant we so desperately fought to 鈥榝ree.鈥� We aren鈥檛 allowed to grow it unless it鈥檚 hidden away from anyone鈥檚 sight. We aren鈥檛 allowed to use, create, carry, sell, or share many of the products that have the highest therapeutic value.鈥� 鈥� Krista Sidloski
鈥淐annabis has been illegal for decades and still is. The law isn鈥檛 perfect and it鈥檚 our job as citizens to protest until we find a solution for EVERYONE and not just the rich/big companies. What a piece of shit of an article.鈥� 鈥� Paulo Ferraz
鈥淭his is obviously written by some boring yuppie鈥� probably lives off her mommy and daddy鈥檚 real estate money, goes to yoga everyday, and is convinced her life is the right way to live. Way too many boring, confused yuppies in this city now.鈥� 鈥� Branden Moses
4/20 organizer Dana Larsen pointed out what he considered to be several errors in my column, one of which was legitimate. Based on previous media reports, I wrote that Sunset Beach Park was closed for 10 weeks in the aftermath of last year鈥檚 4/20. Larsen correctly noted that the ten-week figure was an estimate and that the actual closure was four weeks. Which still seems like a really long time.
News 1130 reported that in 2017, 4/20鈥檚 damage to the lawn was billed at $34,630, 鈥渙f which just $6,990 was reimbursed by the 4/20 organizers.鈥�
Larsen, who has referred to 4/20 as a 鈥淧rotestival鈥�, also commented that the park鈥檚 closure wasn鈥檛 that big of a deal, because 鈥淪unset Beach Park is not very busy in May. It rarely has more than 2-3 people in it at a time.鈥� He also informed me that 4/20 donated $8,400 to local charities in 2018.
But, lo and behold, some of you actually rolled with my opinion:
鈥淐ouldn鈥檛 agree more with this article. Protesting for legalization is pointless now. If they want to hold a festival, they should organize it with proper permits and be respectful of the public space.鈥� 鈥� Mathew Thomas.
鈥淭he 4/20 Day is just for young adults so they can trash a beautiful spot in 麻豆传媒映画and get high in public. They don鈥檛 care about the message. All they care about is cheap, available weed.鈥� 鈥� Joseph Sloan
鈥淭his ad-hoc event has never proven itself in terms of organization, safety or clean up. It鈥檚 pretty much a gong show (bong show?) that costs the city a butt load of money every year in the form of emergency services and clean up.鈥� 鈥� Jennifer Moss
鈥淎fter the 4/20 festival maybe there should be a cigar smoking festival. And after that a campfire burning contest. Just because you can do it doesn鈥檛 mean you should.鈥� 鈥� Matt Lawson
鈥淕lad it鈥檚 legalized but the festival (it is what it is) should be held legally with money ponied up to cover the costs of policing. Because it is NOT a protest anymore.鈥� 鈥� Leslie Macfarlane
鈥淚 live in the West End and the mess that was left in the neighbourhood was crazy. Garbage everywhere and no one cleaned it up. Also the amount of cars illegally parked was out of control.鈥� 鈥� Rob. B.
鈥淚鈥檓 fine if they want to throw the event, but if they want to sell vendor stalls, thus making it a for-profit event, not a protest, they need to pick up the tab. Anyone who thinks this is still a protest and not a festival has their head in the (pot) clouds.鈥� 鈥� Theo Buchinskas
鈥淭he real problem with 4/20 is that it鈥檚 illegal to smoke in parks. Until that problem is resolved, plenty of people have legitimate complaints.鈥� 鈥� Tatsujiro Kurogane
This year鈥檚 4/20 hops onto the Saturday of Easter weekend, and Larsen expects the upward of 100,000 stoners in attendance, sparking major doobage. Based on the ganja gorge dividing those for and against this puffed out event, maybe we should all just follow this guy鈥檚 lead:
鈥淲hen is Quaalude Day is what I want to know.鈥� 鈥� Jon Shanahan
