Pubdate: Wed, 20 May 2009
Source: Toronto Star (CN ON)
Copyright: 2009 The Toronto Star
Contact:  http://www.thestar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/456
Author: Petti Fong
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)

WHEN THE TORCH IS LIT, WILL VANCOUVER HOLD ITS BREATH?

VANCOUVER--All hail -- or inhale -- the 2010 Olympic Torch.

Or, as it's jokingly known around Vancouver, the  Olympic Toke.

Composed of stainless steel, aluminum and sheet  moulding, the torch 
was designed to evoke snow, ice,  skiing and skating, but to many, 
the metre-long white  torch looks suspiciously like a marijuana 
joint, especially when lit.

The observation has become so common in this city that  it's hard to 
know who was the first to say, "Hey,  doesn't that look like ..."

But the torch's resemblance to British Columbia's  biggest cash crop 
was evident right away to Jodie  Emery, editor of Cannabis Culture magazine.

"A lot of people come to Vancouver because it's  marijuana-friendly, 
so I think people who already enjoy  a joint themselves will feel a 
little more kinship to  the Olympics," said Emery, who ran as a Green 
party  candidate in the provincial election this month.

"I'm sure the organizers didn't intend for it to look  like a joint, 
but that's what a lot of people are  seeing."

The association between toking and the Olympics didn't  begin with 
the torch, of course.

At the 1998 Games in Nagano, Japan, Whistler skier Ross  Rebagliati 
won, then lost, the gold medal in  snowboarding after testing 
positive for marijuana. The  medal was returned after Rebagliati 
explained he had  inhaled second-hand smoke. And Olympic 
swimming  sensation Michael Phelps was photographed in 
February  smoking pot from a bong.

Industrial designer Mark Busse said he doesn't see a  joint so much 
as a tweezer or scalpel.

"Sure, it may look a little bit like a joint, but I can  tell you 
that what they were going for was ergonomics,  sleekness, modernity," he said.

Suzanne Reeves, the Vancouver organizing committee's  director of 
communications for the Olympic torch relay,  said she has taken the 
torch across the country and  people's faces light up when they get 
the chance to  hold it.

At Nathan Phillips Square a couple of weeks ago, Reeves  said she had 
the torch in a bag when a cyclist went by  and did a double-take when 
he saw what she had.

Reeves said what she sees when she looks at the torch  is the edge of 
snow and an unfurling flag.

"It's quite magical. Most people's reactions are  emotional," she said.

The torch will be carried by 12,000 people over 45,000  kilometres as 
it makes its journey across Canada.

Because the torch will travel through the winter  months, it had to 
meet some tough technical  requirements, including being able to 
withstand high  winds, cold temperatures and different altitudes.

The torch officially is meant to resemble the lines  left behind by 
skiers and skaters on snow and ice.

Any double -- or doobie -- entendres, officials say,  are purely unintentional.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom