THOUSANDS TURN OUT FOR HIGH HOLIDAY

City's annual pot party draws crowd despite drizzle

By Katie Mercer, The Province

The sounds of bass, bongos and coughing filled the air in downtown
Vancouver Tuesday as pot enthusiasts gathered en masse for an annual smoke-in.

The wet weather didn't dampen too many spirits -- or spliffs -- as
more than 5,000 people gathered at the Vancouver Art Gallery to
celebrate the 4/20 high holiday.

"This event unites people. Everybody feels a sense of community,"
said Donna, 46, as she stood on the outside of the fray gathered
outside the gallery's front steps.

People of all walks of life milled about, although there was a high
percentage of students in their mid-20s donning pot-leaf-adorned
clothing, and the occasional gaggle of preteens with red eyes and
glazed expressions gawking at their surroundings.

Vendors sold everything from bongs and pipes to baked goods, while
others walked through the crowds offering rolled joints and baggies
of hashish and kush for $10 a gram.

Aaron Thompson, who attended the celebration for the first time, was
shocked by the tolerance for pro-marijuana gatherings in Vancouver
versus in his hometown of Calgary.

"It's way different than in Alberta," the 26-year-old said. "There
they have crowd control with cops on horses and everything. I've had
cops take my pot and then give me the riot act."

Among the crowd was marijuana activist Marc Emery and his wife,
Jodie. The high holiday could very well be the last in a while for
Emery who is on bail, facing extradition to the United States to
serve a five-year jail sentence for selling marijuana seeds over the Internet.

Emery's Cannabis Culture Headquarters is often noted in international
media coverage, including a mention in Lonely Planet's Vancouver
guide as a place to gather "with like-minded people."

Rally organizer Jacob Hunter estimated between 5,000 and 10,000 were
at Tuesday's 4/20 event, making it one of the largest annual
worldwide protests, rivalling only Boulder, Colo.'s 4/20 gathering
and Toronto's annual Marijuana March.

"4/20 is getting a lot more of a political edge," Hunter said. "This
year we saw a lot more people with professional and handmade
political messages . . . and more people were reading and posting on
the website."

Hunter and many other advocates at Tuesday's party/protest advocate
for the legalization of marijuana, creating a "fully legal, regulated
environment" like that for alcohol sales.