A greyish haze hung like a late-afternoon fog over the rolling grounds of the Alberta legislature yesterday, as a gang of pot supporters sparked up in peaceful protest.
The secret is out about 4/20, the once-secret code for smoking marijuana. The term has gained global infamy over the last 30 years, and provided the inspiration for yesterday’s event, held on the fourth month’s 20th day.
Though attended by new-millennium hippies and cross-legged reefer-supporters jamming to tribal hand-drumming, the event is more than just an excuse to toke.
“It’s a way of living. It’s living environmental — it’s living clean,” said Alberta 420 founder Todd, who asked to keep his anonymity.
The advocacy and awareness group is preparing for Liberate Marijuana, a march slated for May 2 at city hall.
Pot was nearly decriminalized in Canada in 2003, after a bill introduced by the federal Liberal party would have made carrying less than 15 grams punishable by a fine alone. The bill went up in smoke went Parliament prorogued, and though reborn a year later, was torched with the 2006 federal election.
“Our youth are going to jail and they don’t need to. Pot is as much of a gateway drug as adolescence is to anything else,” said Todd.
A crowd of at least 1,500 spread out near the bandshell of the legislative grounds, trickling up and down the hill at a steady pace.
Police presence was barely noticeable when the clock struck at a cloudy 4:20 p.m.
