subject: Marijuana Culture In Vansterdam [print this page] Vancouver, a.k.aVancouver, a.k.a. Vansterdam, is known as the "Amsterdam of the Americas" for it's liberal attitude towards marijuana use. Although marijuana is still technically illegal in Vancouver, and all of Canada for that matter, police in Vancouver generally turn a blind eye towards marijuana use, even in public.
Visitors to Vancouver looking for a truly "green" experience are usually referred to the city"'s "pot block" - the 300 block of West Hastings street in downtown Vancouver. Here, you will find several seed banks, vapor lounges (where customers bring their own marijuana and rent a smoking device known as a vaporizer) and the BC Marijuana Party (BCMP) headquarters. At the center of it all is Cannabis Culture - the store owned by famous Canadian marijuana activist Marc Emery who is currently in jail in Seattle for selling marijuana seeds to Americans. Cannabis Culture sells everything from weed t-shirts to marijuana-inspired games, smoking accessories and marijuana magazines.
Marijuana has become such a large part of Vancouver's culture that the annual 420 celebration at the Vancouver Art Gallery has seen over 10,000 visitors in recent years. Marijuana t-shirts can be seen in the display windows of many stores throughout Vancouver, and it's not uncommon to smell marijuana smoke wafting through the air when walking through the city. July 1, Canada's birthday, doubles as Cannabis Day in Vancouver where a crowd congregates at the Vancouver Art Gallery to protest against the continued criminalization of the drug. Vendors sell everything from weed t-shirts to smoking devices to marijuana itself with police standing a few meters away.
