BOARD RIGHT ON POT FEST

The mission of the Vancouver park board is to provide, preserve, and advocate for parks and recreation services to benefit all people, communities, and the environment. Its purpose is not to provide a venue at taxpayers’ expense for a special interest group that intends to break city bylaws and to sell or otherwise distribute what is still an illegal product.

The 4-3 decision by the park board commissioners not to grant a permit to the organizers of the 4/20 event was the only reasonable position it could take. Indeed, one wonders what the three dissenters were smoking.

For a start, a Vancouver bylaw prohibits smoking in local parks, beaches and greenways — a bylaw that protects park users from second-hand smoke, lessens the risk of fire caused by careless smoking, and reduces smoking debris ( butts, packaging). There is no reason for the park board to exempt this one event from the bylaw. To do so would open the floodgates for other events to demand the same treatment.

The minimum fine for smoking in a park is $250. 4/20 organizers have vowed the event will go ahead at Sunset Beach, so the city should ensure police are present in force, not to bust people for marijuana possession, but to fine offenders for violating the bylaw. Organizers who say they will defy the bylaw should pay a heavy financial penalty.

The park board makes a compelling case that it cannot condone an event where cannabis consumption by minors cannot be controlled, and where youth are given easy access to both smoking paraphernalia and cannabis edibles like candy and cookies.

The 4/20 event may have been a legitimate protest against marijuana laws when it was first held in Vancouver in 1995, but with the battle largely won and some form of decriminalization around the corner, 4/20 has evolved into something of a trade fair, bringing together sellers of cannabis and related merchandise and consumers of it. This commercial enterprise needs to be properly licensed and held at a venue with age-restricted access.

4/20 proponents have attempted to compare their marijuana fair with the Honda Celebration of Light, but there is no parallel. The Celebration of Light is fully sponsored and its organizers take total responsibility for logistics and cleanup. By comparison, the 4/20 aftermath last year left tons of garbage on Sunset Beach which cost taxpayers an estimated $155,000 to clean up. One last thing: April 20 is a school day. 4/20 is not a statutory holiday. Schools must be vigilant in taking attendance.