Pubdate: Thu, 28 Apr 2016 Source: Vancouver Courier (CN BC) Copyright: 2016 Vancouver Courier Contact: http://www.vancourier.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/474 Author: Mike Howell TRUDEAU GOVERNMENT PROMISES MARIJUANA LEGISLATION NEXT SPRING Organizer of today's 4-20 protest at Sunset Beach predicts bigger events when pot legalized An organizer of today's 4-20 marijuana protest at Sunset Beach is welcoming the news that Canada's health minister announced that the Trudeau government will introduce legislation next spring to legalize marijuana. But Dana Larsen, who is a director of a non-profit that runs two marijuana dispensaries in Vancouver, said the public shouldn't expect the government's move will spell an end to the annual 4-20 events in Vancouver. "It means we're going to be bigger and better than ever," Larsen said of the event that historically attracts thousands of marijuana smokers. "The Pride parade didn't end when gay marriage was legalized. It got bigger. I don't see any problem with continuing to have a cannabis-friendly event when cannabis is legalized. It'll just be a lot more fun and a lot less stressful." Health Minister Jane Philpott announced today at the United Nations in New York that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government will introduce legislation in the spring of 2017 "that ensures that we keep marijuana out of the hands of children and profits out of the hands of criminals." Philpott is at the United Nations to participate in a review of international drug treaties. "While this plan challenges the status quo of many countries, we are convinced it is the best way to protect our youth while enhancing public safety," she said. "Canada will continue to modernize our approach to drug policy. Our work will embrace upstream prevention, compassionate treatment and harm reduction. We will work with law enforcement partners to encourage appropriate and proportionate criminal justice measures. We know it is impossible to arrest our way out of this problem." While Larsen said the news was positive, he wants the federal government to immediately stop arresting people for possession of marijuana and personal cultivation as a sign of goodwill before legislation is passed. "It makes no sense to me," he said. Meanwhile, the city continues to process and review applications from existing and potential marijuana dispensary operators. The city is expected to begin granting business licences to dispensaries within the next few months. The city wants to regulate the pot shops, not the pot. It's unclear how the federal government's legislation will affect the operation of pot shops, with some analysts saying the dispensaries would become irrelevant and marijuana would be sold in pharmacies and liquor stores. April 20 is embraced by pot smokers because it falls on the 20th day of the fourth month of the year. In other words, 4-20. There is an ongoing dispute among cannabis enthusiasts about the significance of 4-20, with most believing it relates to the time of day a group of California hippies met in the 1970s to smoke weed outside a school. Asked about the significance, or coincidence, of Philpott making such an announcement on April 20, Larsen described it as "more of a cosmic coincidence in that regard, that this important drug policy UN meeting is happening on our sacred high holy holiday of 4-20. But I don't think that was anything that anybody planned out." - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom