KEEPING IN THE GREEN

Colin Rogucki can sell you a Wayne Gretzky commemorative bong. He can
fix you up with a stunningly beautiful, handcrafted glass pipe.

He can supply you with "stash cans" disguised as shaving cream or pop
cans. He has rolling papers, lighters, water pipes and high-tech
vapourizers (all the dope without the smoke!).

Just don't ask him to help you score some pot.

"Every day at least one person comes in here and asks if we can hook
them up with a dealer," Rogucki says with a sigh. "I can't do that.
It's still illegal."

The sign on the front door of his Old Strathcona store spells it
out:

"Dudes! Please do not ask us where to buy weed. Buy a pipe and find
your own dealer. When weed is legal, we will carry it all."

Rogucki owns Shell Shock, one of three thriving "cannabis culture"
stores in the Whyte Avenue area. Business has been so brisk that last
year Rogucki opened a second location in the Whitemud Crossing area
along Calgary Trail.

"There are seven stores like this in the city that I know of," he
says. "And there's enough business to go around for everyone."

Even though there are enough dope-smoking Edmontonians to keep at
least seven marijuana paraphernalia stores in the uh, green, marijuana
is still illegal. Rogucki can legally sell everything you need to
become a total pothead ... except the pot.

"I talked to my lawyer about selling seeds but I decided it wasn't
worth the risk," he says. "There are people in other provinces who do
it, but we're not ready in Alberta."

Standing behind a display case full of pipes, Rogucki comes across as
a latter-day Jeff Spicoli - five-day beard, unkempt mop of hair
covering heavy-lidded eyes and clothing that looks slept in. You'd
never in a million years guess that he has a degree in economics.

But there's no questioning his business acumen or his knowledge of the
political fight to legalize - or at least decriminalize - marijuana in
Canada.

The debate over what to do with marijuana has dragged on for years.
The Liberals had planned to decriminalize it, but the subject
conveniently fell by the wayside in favour of more politically
expedient issues, such as same-sex marriage, which has served to
clearly delineate the Liberals from the Tories.

"Once they put their minds to (same-sex marriage)," Rogucki says,
"they were able to get it through Parliament in about three months.
They just don't have the willpower to do the same with marijuana."

Pot, he explains, is a much less polarized issue, with people from all
walks of life on all sides of the debate.

"Our clientele ranges in age from 15 to 75," Rogucki
says.

Many are typical potheads, he says, but lots of others are
white-collar, middle-class types who smoke up only once in a while.
And several are medical marijuana users who use it control chronic
symptoms, like nausea and muscle spasms, which come with diseases such
as hepatitis C and multiple sclerosis.

Rogucki chuckles quietly at the irony of the increased police presence
yesterday around his store all along Whyte Avenue. Police had to keep
a lid on Canada Day revellers, who took part in the perfectly legal
and socially acceptable pastime of getting plastered on alcohol.

The cops were out in force just to make sure the drunks didn't start a
riot, but have you ever heard of a bunch of potheads rioting? And when
was the last time you heard anyone extolling the medicinal benefits of
alcohol?

It's something to think about.