CITY VOTED WORLD'S TOP SPOT FOR POT

Move over Amsterdam, Vancouver is burning bright as the world's el primo
spliff-city.

It's official. Vancouver has been voted the world's best spot for marijuana
smokers, according to the summer edition of High Times, which has a
circulation of 200,000.

Even though it's against the law to smoke weed in Vancouver, the magazine
chose Terminal City over longtime No. 1 Amsterdam, where it's legal to
light up. Vancouver's "pot cafes," the seeming tolerance for bud and the
availability and high quality of locally grown cannabis earned Vancouver
its title.

Magazine editor Dan Skye said of Vancouver: "You could walk down the street
[smoking pot] and no one bothers you."

Tourism Vancouver's Paul Vallee said the top billing adds to the city's hip
image.

The cannabis crown comes on the heels of a recent report stating the number
of marijuana home-grow operations in B.C. are out of control and police are
powerless to stop it.