POTHEADS TOKE A HOLIDAY

They skipped out of work and school early, stocked up on Doritos,
Starburst, pizza, chocolate and rolling papers and gathered in small
clusters at city parks, toking and talking pot.

Tuesday, or 4:20 for those "cool" enough to know, marked a celebration day
of sorts for pot smokers.

"It's a freedom day, that's what it is," said Calgary's marijuana advocate,
Grant Krieger, who, coincidentally, was en route to the Winnipeg provincial
court house to contest a January pot trafficking charge. And, as fate would
have it, Krieger's hearing was set for Courtroom 420.

"It's too bizarre, ironic," he said. "I couldn't believe it when I found
that out. Room 420, too ironic, bizarre."

According to pot folklore, a group of California university students used
to meet for a joint after class every day at 4:20 p.m. and the trend caught
on, sparking a deluge of 4:20 lingo and paraphernalia. There's also the
theory that 420 was police code for a drug bust in the 1960s.

"April 20th is when you find out who's cool and who's not," said Marc
Emery, president of B.C.'s Marijuana Party. "It's a combination of social
activism and partying. It's our day, those in the culture, to be cool."

In Calgary, some hemp and drug paraphernalia stores closed for the
"holiday" while others saw a steady stream of customers.

"We're getting people in here we've never seen before and getting calls all
day long," said Maxx Boudreau, an employee of Hemporium on 17th Avenue S.W.
"Some of the people are new, just in it to be part of the festivities, and
some are the diehards."

Over at Grassroots, meanwhile, a recorded message said staff was off for
the day, celebrating 4:20.

Boudreau said the day isn't just about finding an excuse to get high.

"We're not potheads, we're regular people like you," she said. "The only
difference is we smoke a herb that changes our view of the world."

While Boudreau expected several small gatherings across the city Tuesday,
it won't compare to events in other cities, she said, such as the hundreds
expected to gather on Highway 420 near Niagara Falls.

"People in Calgary are still really ignorant to pot smoking, and there is
an anti-pot attitude here," she said. "This might educate some people, like
any other awareness day does."

While the genesis and merits of 4:20 are debatable, one thing is not and
that's the attitude of police, who, in Calgary anyway, were unaware of the
day's significance.

"Never heard of it," said CPS duty Insp. Rene Bailly. "There is so much
open pot smoking in this city anyway, it's really another day.

"We're not going to make a habit of going into parks and checking for
smokers," he said. "But it is still against the law, and we will act if we
receive a complaint. We're not going to make a spectacle out of a day like
this."

There were no noteworthy pot incidents requiring police attention Tuesday,
said night duty Insp. Ken Marchant.