{"id":7926,"date":"2017-12-13T11:43:20","date_gmt":"2017-12-13T11:43:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.420magazine.com\/?p=6962"},"modified":"2017-12-13T11:43:20","modified_gmt":"2017-12-13T11:43:20","slug":"vancouver-the-new-amsterdam-how-the-city-is-gearing-up-to-legalize-cannabis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/vancouver-the-new-amsterdam-how-the-city-is-gearing-up-to-legalize-cannabis\/","title":{"rendered":"Vancouver, The New Amsterdam? How The City Is Gearing Up To Legalize Cannabis"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0 5px 5px;float:right;height:100px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/vancouver-the-new-amsterdam-how-the-city-is-gearing-up-to-legalize-cannabis\/\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><p>Outside the Provincial Court of British Columbia (BC) in downtown Vancouver, a city regularly hailed as one of the best places to live in the world, there is a farmers market dedicated to marijuana \u2013 or \u201ccraft cannabis\u201d as traders like to call it.<\/p>\n<p>Glass jars filled with the drug are lined up on tables beneath a gazebo, which protects hawkers and punters from the incessant rain.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe get all different types of people coming here,\u201d says Jesse Slater, who mans one of the stalls. \u201cEvery race, creed and color; different ages too.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Cannabis is currently illegal in Canada, but not for long; next July the country will become the first G7 nation to fully legalize the recreational use of weed. Until then the authorities in British Columbia are turning a blind eye to the province\u2019s overt marijuana industry, as they have done for decades.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBC has always been the Mecca for marijuana in Canada,\u201d explains Jesse, who sports a bushy beard, thick spectacles and high-vis jacket. \u201cIt\u2019s part of the culture here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jesse worked as a street dealer in the Nineties, but took a job in construction when he realized \u201cswinging a hammer paid the bills more readily.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Not for much longer, perhaps. According to the accounting firm, Deloitte, a legal cannabis industry in Canada could be worth a whopping $23 billion (\u00a313.5bn) a year to the economy; investors are already queuing up to get a slice of the pie, leading some commentators to compare legalization with the Gold Rush.<\/p>\n<p>Deloitte reckons tourism could play a part in the burgeoning industry, though it clearly already does.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCruise passengers are our biggest customers during the summer,\u201d explains Bailey Chorny, who works at Vancity Bulldog Caf\u00e9, where pre-rolled joints retail for $5 (\u00a32.95).<\/p>\n<p>Vancity Bulldog Caf\u00e9 \u2013 along with the New Amsterdam Caf\u00e9 opposite \u2013 are as close to Dutch-style \u201ccoffeeshops\u201d as you\u2019re likely to find outside the Netherlands. Smoking is not technically allowed in either establishment, but punters are permitted to get their cannabis fix via a vape. Both cafes are illegal, but tolerated.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOnce marijuana has been legalized I think there will be a lot more smoking lounges and dispensaries in Vancouver,\u201d says Bailey, optimistically. \u201cWe could be the Amsterdam of Canada; we already are.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A few blocks east from Vancity Bulldog Caf\u00e9 is Farm Dispensary, a cannabis store located between the chalk-and-cheese neighborhoods of Gastown and Downtown Eastside; the former an upmarket district popular with tourists, the latter one of Canada\u2019s most deprived postcodes.<\/p>\n<p>Mitchell Flann works at the dispensary and believes there\u2019s huge potential for pot tourism in British Columbia.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[Marijuana] is already a massive draw for tourism,\u201d he says. \u201cPot tourism will only expand further as the government becomes able to openly push it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img src=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/vancouver-the-new-amsterdam-how-the-city-is-gearing-up-to-legalize-cannabis.jpg\" alt=\"\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>News Moderator: Ron Strider <a href=\"http:\/\/www.420magazine.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">420 MAGAZINE \u00ae<\/a><br \/>\nFull Article: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/travel\/destinations\/north-america\/canada\/vancouver\/articles\/vancouver-canada-cannabis-legalisation-coffee-shops-tourism\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Vancouver, the new Amsterdam? How the city is gearing up to legalise cannabis<\/a><br \/>\nAuthor: Gavin Haines<br \/>\nContact: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/contact-us\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Contact us &#8211; The Telegraph<\/a><br \/>\nPhoto Credit: Don Goofy<br \/>\nWebsite: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Telegraph &#8211; Telegraph Online, Daily Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph &#8211; Telegraph<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Outside the Provincial Court of British Columbia (BC) in downtown Vancouver, a city regularly hailed as one of the best&#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.420magazine.com\/2017\/12\/vancouver-new-amsterdam-city-gearing-legalize-cannabis\/\" class=\"read-more\">[Read More]<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1616,9,1,3],"tags":[4184],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7926"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7926"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7926\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}