The history of weed in Canada has been slow. Cannabis was officially announced illegal in 1920 under the Narcotics Drug Act Amendment Bill, but the bill wasn’t effective until 1937. For the following decades, weed faced prolonged growth in popularity. Leaders started to push for more severe abolition in the late 1960s. This resulted from a surge in recreational cannabis use at that time.
With the growth of the hippy era, the use of weed in Vancouver started to increase, despite the strict regulations added to the Narcotics Control Act in 1961. Nevertheless, that wouldn’t hinder the consumption of marijuana or cultivators who aimed at improving their skills and increase the supply to meet the high demand. This was persuaded by the excellent growing conditions in British Columbia. Therefore, Vancouver became an ideal place for cultivating marijuana and a root for marijuana culture.
In the 1990s, Vancouver started to have a calm approach towards marijuana culture. Between the 1970s and 1980s, officials would actively stop weed cultivation and suppress people using cannabis in public. However, a change in approach towards marijuana was noticed in the 1990s.
Despite cannabis being regarded as Illicit in Vancouver, consuming it for recreational was allowed, and people began to discover more benefits of cannabis, especially for medicinal usage.
Rise of Activists in Vancouver
Marc Emery
Marc Emery is the most famous activist during this period. Commonly recognized as the “Prince of Pot,” Marc was among the most outspoken activists that inspired policy reform. He shifted to Vancouver in 1994 and launched a cannabis store known as Hemp BC. His shop publicly sold weed apparatus such as pipes and bongs. He went on with his business and wasn’t worried about violating Vancouver’s laws. His company continued to expand, and later, he started distributing seeds to growers as he continued to disregard the laws.
In the end, Marc Emery launched Cannabis Culture in 1994 as a newsletter that he edited and published. The newsletter was initially known as “Marijuana and Hemp,” which was printed on hemp paper. It was first released in January 1995 as Marijuana and Hemp Magazine and was later retitled to Cannabis Canada, and finally named Cannabis Culture. The name remained until 2009 when its printed publication stopped and changed to a digital format.
Dana Larsen
Dana Larsen also spearheaded cannabis legalization. Along with Marc Emery, they established the BC Marijuana Party and the Marijuana Party of Canada. He also started one of Vancouver’s earliest banks for weed seeds and a couple of medical cannabis dispensaries in Vancouver. In 2012, Dana initiated Sensible BC, an operation that intended to legalize owning of cannabis in British Columbia. Although he failed, he collected 202,085 signatures which marked the second-highest number of signatures collected for a referendum in BC. This was a significant event in cannabis culture.
In 2001, medicinal cannabis was legalized. The same year, Marc Emery founded the Cannabis Culture Lounge to commemorate cannabis culture and the rise of its exposure across the country.
Marijuana Consumption After 2001
The medical benefits of cannabis were widely recognized, and people would use weed publicly across Vancouver. Authorities would hardly bother people consuming it unless they were disturbing the peace.
In 2018, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau legalized the use of weed for cannabis purposes after he took office. But there are many rules concerning the legalized cannabis. Many thanks to the efforts of activists; weed was at last legalized not only in Vancouver but the whole country. Today, people celebrate the cannabis culture on 4/20 annually.
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