April 21, 2006

Going to pot?

There was a strange smell on King Street in downtown Hamilton yesterday - but for once it wasn't caused by pollution from the steel factories.

A drive through the centre of the city would have explained everything. The cheering youth. The honking drivers. The waving flags bearing suspicious-looking maple leaves.

4-20 had come around once again. The so-called "Cannabis National Holiday" is marked yearly in Hamilton with a giant pot smoke-out orchestrated by the Up in Smoke Cafe. This year the protesters also marched to City Hall, where they openly smoked the drug.

The aim of the rally is to end the 'prohibition' of marijuana, whereby distribution and possession is a criminal offence.

"We think it'll make a huge difference," said Chris Goodwin, owner of Up in Smoke. "The goal is to normalize cannabis - so one year people want us arrested, but the next they think police should leave us alone."

As around 400 people gathered at Ferguson Station across the street from the cafe, it looked as if Goodwin was close to achieving his modest goal. Several passing motorists even honked in support.

A worker at Tony's Corner, a souvlaki shop just a stone's throw from the rally, said: "I don't mind them protesting, as long as they don't bother me. It doesn't affect business and they never break anything. I don't smoke pot, but I don't mind if they do."

As for the legalization of marijuana, though, it looks like Goodwin and his supporters could have a long wait. Although police stood calmly by as protesters sparked up free joints from the cafe (over 1000 were given away throughout the course of the day), and no arrests have ever been made in the rally's eight-year history, the cafe itself has not enjoyed the same hands-off approach.

Up in Smoke has been visited by police 200 times in the 18 months it has been open. Over 30 customers have been charged with possession of a controlled substance. And just last month Goodwin was charged with possession and trafficking after the police raided his premises. He was only able to attend the 4-20 rally because he was granted bail.

A spokesman for Mayor Larry di Ianni declined to comment on the smoke-out at City Hall. But after a similar protest in August last year, Mayor di Ianni said it was "too bad they would use our city and our City Hall to try to draw national and local attention to their cause. The best thing would be to ignore them."

That, it seems, is largely what happened. While traffic was affected for a short time during the march to City Hall, most Hamiltonians regarded the protest with apathy or amusement.

And the protesters themselves? They just reveled in the novelty of smoking free cannabis and getting one up on the police. That, after all, was the real reason most of them were there.

**NEWS UPDATE** The Up in Smoke Cafe was raided again today (Friday, April 21). Three people, including two members of staff, were arrested and charged with trafficking in connection with Thursday's rally. Six others were charged with possession and released with court dates.

Photos courtesy of CH News and Toronto Star