The annual pot holiday came and went in a cloud of marijuana smoke and crumpled Doritos bags today, and once again local police showed an astounding ability to look the other way. Even though it’s illegal to have, smoke and sell weed, hundreds of people did all three, and in great quantities, on the steps of the Vancouver Art Gallery this rainy Tuesday afternoon.

And while the atmosphere was predictably vibrant and friendly, replete with live DJ and the obligatory hackysack circle, it still blows me away that for a few glorious hours, the VPD stands aside and allows our enormous, public session to take place with impunity.

Heck, there were booths openly selling ‘OG Bubba Kush’!

It not only speaks to our identity as a city- it shows that while yes, the VPD are interested in upholding the law, they also realize that letting a couple hundred wannabe hippies and high school kids have a few tokes isn’t going to result in widespread criminal destruction. So I applaud the VPD and their ability to selectively turn the other cheek. I do stress caution however, or the next thing we know we’ll have little rooms where people go and shoot up heroin.

Yikes.