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Vancouver pot rally set for Sunset Beach this year, and potentially next

Council votes 5-3 to wait until feds establish legalization framework before moving 4/20 rally
pot
This year’s annual 4/20 event will return to Sunset Beach. Photo Dan Toulgoet

The future of massive marijuana rallies in Vancouver will move away from a definitive shade of green into a murky grey area until the federal government solidifies its anticipated plans for legalization.

The decision means that not only will 4/20 events go ahead at Sunset Beach this year, but there’s also a chance that they’ll continue in the hotly-contested public space in 2018 as well.

That decision came by way of a two-plus hour debate — which incidentally started at 4:20 p.m. Wednesday — that saw council vote 5-3 to hold off on finding a new setting for the protest until the Liberals establish the legalities associated with legal pot next July.

“It’s very difficult for our staff to start negotiating something… until we have a handle on what that the legal framework might be,” said Vision Councillor Kerry Jang.

Council heard from four speakers in advance of the decision, including NPA park board commissioner Sarah Kirby-Yung.

All speakers favoured moving the annual rally away from Sunset Beach. Other locations offered up included the PNE, city-owned land near False Creek that’s currently home to the Cavalia tent or Larwill Park in downtown Vancouver.

Kirby-Yung outlined a litany of concerns rooted in last year’s event, which organizers say attracted 50,000 people to the West End: litter, damaged terrain and vegetation, excessive Seawall traffic, air quality issues, unsafe driving, property damage and a general lack of feeling safe among the area’s 9,000 residents.

She said the city’s 311 information line received 86 calls for service that day, compared to just two calls during the Celebration of Light.

She also noted there was “rampant” selling of marijuana products to minors at the event, which cost the city roughly $150,000. About $99,000 of that total went to policing expenditures.

“It’s a troublesome event and not something people are welcoming with open arms in their neighbourhood,” she said.

Rally organizer Jeremiah Vandermeer has been behind the annual gathering for five years. In speaking to council he said vendors are warned to not sell pot to minors. If they are seen to doing so, their displays are removed and they are asked to leave. Vandermeer said plans were moving along to re-locate the event to the PNE, but “political pressure” dissuaded PNE board members. He suggested the Cavalia site is a “mud pit” and not an option due to the lack of places to sit. 

Vandermeer’s group was denied a permit application by the park board in early March largely due to the smoking ban that’s in place at all city parks and beaches. A permit application would help Vandermeer obtain the necessary insurance and help offset city costs. He said $120,000 was made last year — money derived from vendor fees — and all that money went back to covering costs associated with running the event: stages, amplification and cleanup among others.  

That money doesn’t offset police or traffic management costs.

“You don’t need [police and traffic management] at a place like the PNE because it’s designed for this kind of thing,” Vandermeer said.

West End resident James Balatti told council that Kirby-Yung’s fears were largely overblown, and that Seawall access was no different than on any other sunny day. While he supports moving the rally to another location, come 4/20 he will “go to [Sunset Beach] and smoke a joint anyway.”

“With the Not-In-My-Back-Yard movement, it happens everywhere,” he said. “Every issue that’s politically polarizing will bring this out.” 

The issue of politics and freedom also came to bear. Several councillors conceded that while some view the rally as an excuse to get high, it is also a legitimate form of protest.

As such, the issue needs to be navigated carefully so as to not violate the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Councillors also noted receiving considerable feedback since alternative locations were presented earlier this week. Hasting-Sunrise resident Jennifer Cole, who lives near the PNE, said providing large-scale events help destigmatize a plant that’s been legal for medical purposes for close to two years.

“Part of the purpose of this protest is to end the stigma around cannabis use,” said Cole, who uses cannabis for migraines and works in the pot industry. “And that involves being able to see who is using cannabis.”  

The inaugural pot protest took place in Victory Square in 1994. It moved to the Vancouver Art Gallery one year later and was held there annually until gallery renovations prompted its re-locations to Sunset Beach in 2016.

Green Party Councillor Adriane Carr initially attempted to have rally organizers work alongside city staff and residents to find a more appropriate, non-residential site for next year’s protest and beyond.

That motion was amended by Councillor Jang to wait for direction from the Trudeau Liberals. Jang’s Vision Vancouver counterparts Geoff Meggs, Tim Stevenson and Andrea Reimer also endorsed that amendment, as did NPA councillor George Affleck. Carr and the NPA’s Elizabeth Ball and Melissa De Genova voted against the move.

jkurucz@vancourier.com