WILL THERE BE HIGH TIMES AT OLYMPICS?

Police To Continue Permissive Approach To Pot During Games In The Home Of
B.C. Bud

VANCOUVER - That sweet scent in the air during next month's Olympic
Games might be the smell of success. Then again, it could just be the
weed.

It will be far from business as usual for much of Vancouver during the
Olympics, but marijuana advocates and police say the city's
laissez-faire attitude towards the infamous B.C. bud won't change.

"Our officers show an exceptional amount of discretion with respect to
people smoking marijuana and that will continue," said Const. Lindsey
Houghton, a spokeswoman for the Vancouver Police Department.

That's not to say police will completely turn a blind
eye.

"There are people who are coming to visit that live in countries where
it may certainly not be against the law so I don't expect people will
come here seeking to openly contravene our drug laws but you know, I'm
sure there will be people who do it and I'm sure our officers will do
their best to remind them that that's against the law," Houghton said.

While marijuana remains illegal in Canada, with the exception of those
with special permits to smoke medical marijuana, Vancouverites are
known for their relaxed attitude toward the herb.

It's almost more common to catch a whiff of weed on the streets of
this West Coast city than it is to smell the smoke of an actual cigarette.

"Even though the Games are drawing the people here, people aren't
going to be at the event 24 hours a day so I think they're going to be
looking for stuff to do in their spare time as well," said Salvador
Daswani, co-owner of Vansterdam clothing.

"Definitely our marijuana culture could be a huge part of
that."

His shop sells a "Vansterdam 2010" T-shirt featuring a man running
with a lit marijuana cigarette, blowing smoke in the shape of five
rings.

So far, about 70 shirts have been sold online and at Cannabis Culture,
a shop in downtown Vancouver at the heart of the city's "pot block," a
strip of stores that includes a cafe where people can bring their own
marijuana for personal consumption.

Vancouver is well-known in Canada for its permissive approach to drug
use, including the country's only supervised injection site for
intravenous drug users. And it's purported that B.C. bud -- the
high-potency marijuana grown in the province -- is British Columbia's
most profitable export crop.

Every year, activists gather at a massive pro-marijuana rally at the
Vancouver art gallery in April, and a cloud of smoke goes up in honour
of abolishing the prohibition of pot.

This year, activist Neil Magnuson is planning to host the
"Cannalympics" at the art gallery during the Games.

"If it works out, and there's a few hundred people to a few thousand
people on a daily basis, then I'm sure we'll have all sorts of fun
stuff going on," he said.

In addition to singing the anthem "O'Cannabis," and the "high-jumping"
and smoke-ring blowing competitions, organizers would like to have
their own torch relay -- a nod to jokes that the official 2010 Olympic
torch resembles a giant joint.