Field notes from the historic first sitting of the B.C. legislature following the legalization of marijuana:
7:36 a.m. — Sunrise, dawn of a new era. Small ceremony in backyard, just me and the dog, to consecrate the spot where four legal seeds can be planted, not visible from any public space.
The four big portable floodlights I rented to nurture them will light up the place like a soccer field. But I got blackout curtains, so it’s the neighbours’ problem, not mine.
8 a.m. — Cycled to work. The number of motorist-cyclist fistfights was down markedly. Also, much less cursing. Everybody seems more mellow. A lot more careless, yes. But mellow.
8:25 a.m. — Arrived at legislature. Entering was easier than usual. Guards were watching images go by on the security X-ray machine as if it were a game show. Eating popcorn and laughing. Very relaxed vibe.
8:30 a.m. — Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth holds a conference call to brief reporters on how it’s going.
Opens with: “Thank you and good morning for joining on the line this morning.”
Hmmmm …
He says government made 1,000 cannabis sales in the first hour through the online store that opened at midnight.
Even with all the preparation, it’s still a bit jarring to hear a cabinet minister enthusing about his prowess as a dope dealer. This is going to take some getting used to.
He also plugs an informational provincial cannabis website called “getcannabisclarity.ca” that would be a lot better marketing brand than the boring one they settled on: B.C. Cannabis.
9 to 10:30 a.m. — Browsed the government’s online store, which is full of interesting stuff.
“Hundreds of naturally occurring compounds that combine to create unique effects.”
Indica-dominant versus sativa-dominant. “Galiano” costs twice as much as “Kinky Kush.”
Got so immersed in so much dope information I developed a kind of contact high.
10:30 to noon — Unaccounted for. All I remember is stopping to look at my hands …
Noon — Farnworth shows up again at a news conference. This time he opens with a Doritos joke. He says he has now made more than 4,000 sales online.
“B.C.’s prices are very competitive, ” he said.
This, from a guy charging $56.99 for 3.5 grams of Acapulco Gold.
1 p.m. — Spotted cabinet minister Melanie Mark going into caucus with a covered lunch plate.
“What have you got in there?”
“Not brownies,” she said, hustling by.
1:30 p.m. — Speaker Darryl Plecas opens the sitting. As a career criminology professor, he spent years warning about the dangers of marijuana, particularly grow-ops.
“Smoking marijuana is stupid and you become stupider,” he told a municipal panel in Victoria seven years ago.
But this week, his staff issued a permit for a Legalization Celebration Day on his front lawn.
The world has changed.
2:30 p.m. — Farnworth does yet another media appearance, and gets the question of the day from B.C. Today’s Shannon Waters: Ontario cannabis stores are selling cannabis-infused personal lubrication or “intimate spray.” Why isn’t B.C.?
Farnworth cracks up, and says if people want it, they should email B.C. Cannabis and ask for it.
But we’re already struggling with the fact they only managed to open one store on time. Now we have to beg the government to stock cannabis-infused intimate spray.
3 p.m. — The legalization celebration opens on the front lawn. “The next 200 people get a free doobie,” proclaims cannabis activist Dana Larsen. “Share them around.”
There are dozens of plants, also on hand as freebies.
He ran for the federal NDP as a candidate 10 years ago, but was booted after the party discovered the leading marijuana advocate actually smoked marijuana. He ran for the provincial NDP leadership a few years later.
But on Wednesday, he was less than enchanted with the provincial regime set up to regulate the federal change.
The thread running through most of the remarks from the stage is celebration, but it’s muted by resentment at what so many people went through to get to this day.
The activists won a long battle, but on Wednesday they sounded like martyrs who have just lost their cause.
