OLYMPIC TOKE?

2010 Torch Reminds Many Of Marijuana Joint

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 invoke snow, ice, skiing and skating, but to many,
the metre-length white torch looks suspiciously like a marijuana
joint, especially when lit.

That the torch bears a resemblance to Vancouver'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 this month
as a Green Party candidate in the provincial election.

"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.

TORSTAR NEWS SERVICE