POT ACTIVISTS CAN'T GET ARRESTED

It Appears Police Want to Avoid Any Trouble Out of This Perennial Event

What do you have to do to get arrested in this town?

Light up a joint on Victoria Avenue this afternoon, no problem. But
phone a friend while you drive by the annual pro-pot rally in Niagara
Falls and be prepared for the police to lighten your wallet by $155.

This is the reality in Niagara Falls today where talking on a
cellphone while driving can net you a fine under Ontario's new law
against "distracted driving," but lighting up a doobie in a crowd
probably won't even get you a scolding.

Today's the day potheads make their annual pilgrimage to Niagara
Falls to willfully engage in civil disobedience - toking up - to
prove. uh, dude, what is it we're trying to prove, again? Oh yeah,
their annual rite of spring is a rallying cry, calling on the
Canadian government to free the weed.

Every year since 2004, marijuana activists have held an annual
"smoke-out" in a park near Highway 420. Among pot smokers, 4:20 p.m.,
is the universal time to toke up.

So on the weekend before April 20 (the fourth month, 20th day), they
flock to Niagara Falls to make their point.

But their message hasn't changed. This year, their website features a
picture of Prime Minister Stephen Harper with his hands over his
ears, apparently refusing to listen to experts who say marijuana is
harmless, should be legalized and should be government-regulated and taxed.

City council has done what it can to discourage the rally by renaming
the highway Niagara Veterans Memorial Highway, but as long as it
carries the province's official designation as 420, pot smokers will
make that connection.

It's hard to know how treat this rally anymore. Frankly, the message
is getting old. Their tactics aren't new . And the police reaction is humdrum.

How routine is it? Last year, Review reporter John Law covered the
event and unwittingly interviewed Rob Neron from northern Ontario
town of Hurst, the same token (and tokin') demonstrator photographer
Mike DiBattista put on the front page seven years ago.

A few Niagara Regional Police officers show up each year to escort
the pot parade down Victoria Avenue to Clifton Hill and into Queen
Victoria Park in time for the big 4:20 spark up. Officially, they're
there for the demonstrators' safety since they walk through traffic
to get from the highway to the park.

Reporters are assigned to cover the event by editors with visions of
visions of cops in riot gear, swinging clubs as they wade into the
sea of pot-smokers, dragging them kicking and screaming to a waiting
paddy wagon. Nothing like that ever happens.

After every protest, a reporter calls the police station to find out
if any tokers were hauled in. But the police describe them as
"well-behaved" and "no trouble at all."

It has always been puzzling how police turn a blind eye to what
appear to be flagrant violations of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.

It appears they want to avoid any trouble out of this perennial
event, so it seems they don't go looking for it.

"At the end of the day, it's not our job to rush in and create
chaos," an unidentified officer said during last year's protest.

No doubt some of the more militant marijuana activists might like to
get arrested for their cause. But our police just won't give them the
satisfaction. Cops just seem happy to see the backs of the potheads
once the rally is over, they have exercised their free speech rights,
and subverted the system a bit by lighting up in public.

Yet whenever the Niagara Regional Police take down an indoor
marijuana grow-op, they send out a press release declaring in boxcar
letters another victory in fighting crime. The police are like Ronald
Reagan, trying to control the supply-side of Niagara's drug economy
when what's needed is a Nancy Reagan to tell the tokers, "just say no."

Niagara Falls residents who haven't witnessed the 420 rally would be
amused by the way their own has become a platform for this kind of
rabble-rousing.

It's actually a colourful event. Their protest signs and costumes are
a feast for the eyes. And when a hundred people light up marijuana
cigarettes at the same time, it's a feast for the nose as well.

But if you're driving by to take a look at this flagrant disregard
for the law, don't make the mistake of phoning the police while
you're driving. That would be illegal.