VANCOUVER – The head of a B.C. cannabis growers group says the City of Vancouver's choice to discourage instead of sanction a marijuana celebration over the weekend was a costly "missed opportunity."<\/p>\n
The BC Craft Farmers Co-Op says the city should rethink its approach to 4-20 celebrations and sanction what could be an "international cannabis tourism event."<\/p>\n
Co-op president Tara Kirkpatrick says the city erected barriers around Sunset Beach and had police target vendors at the unsanctioned celebration over the weekend, instead of authorizing a "professionally run special event," similar to the annual Pride Parade.<\/p>\n
Previous celebrations in Vancouver on April 20 — considered the day to celebrate smoking cannabis — have drawn tens of thousands of people, caused traffic gridlock and expensive damage to city parks.<\/p>\n
However, Kirkpatrick says such an event could generate millions in tourism revenues for the province, which could cash in on B.C.'s "rich cannabis culture" and reputation as a place with "legendary craft cannabis farmers."<\/p>\n
Vancouver's Parks Board had temporary fences put up, and closed washrooms and parking lots on Saturday as a way to "mitigate" what it said was a "non-sanctioned cannabis protest event."<\/p>\n
The group says Vancouver could have followed in the footsteps of the City of Prince George, which held a permitted "cannabis summit" over the weekend attended by thousands, including the city's mayor.<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 22, 2024.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" VANCOUVER – The head of a B.C. cannabis growers group says the City of Vancouver's choice to discourage instead of sanction a marijuana celebration over the weekend was a costly "missed opportunity." The BC Craft Farmers Co-Op says the city should rethink its approach to 4-20 celebrations and sanction what could be an "international cannabis […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":362,"featured_media":641,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"guid":"","source":"The Canadian Press","byline":"The Canadian Press","published":"2024-04-22T08:42:08","updated":"2024-04-22T21:00:00","_infotelid":"IT104398","_prepressid":"104398","_multisite_post_sync":"","_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[379,2,391,381],"tags":[],"region":[309,310,311,312],"class_list":["post-642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured3","category-in420","category-nonit","category-topnews","region-kamloops","region-kelowna","region-penticton","region-vernon"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":7}},"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/in420\/news\/642\/advocacy-group-calls-on-vancouver-to-embrace-cannabis-tourism-after-4-20-debacle\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Advocacy group calls on Vancouver to ’embrace’ cannabis tourism after 4-20 ‘debacle’","url":"http:\/\/infonews.ca\/in420\/news\/642\/advocacy-group-calls-on-vancouver-to-embrace-cannabis-tourism-after-4-20-debacle\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/infonews.ca\/in420\/news\/642\/advocacy-group-calls-on-vancouver-to-embrace-cannabis-tourism-after-4-20-debacle\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/in420\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/MediaItemID104398-6374.jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/in420\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/MediaItemID104398-6374.jpg"},"articleSection":"featured3","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Howard Alexander"}],"creator":["Howard Alexander"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"iN420","logo":""},"keywords":[],"dateCreated":"2024-04-22T15:42:08Z","datePublished":"2024-04-22T15:42:08Z","dateModified":"2024-04-23T04:00:00Z"},"rendered":"