Looking for dispensaries that offer weed delivery in Vancouver, like Weeds Vancouver and Vancity Weed? You would have never guessed that wanting to buy weed online in Vancouver, BC is actually very common lately.
Open debates with the law has lead towards more fair, reasonable, and safe Canadian marijuana laws today. Dedicated marijuana advocates and counterculture leadership figures fight tirelessly to overturn marijuana prohibition in Canada.
And their defiance started in Vancouver.
If not for Vancouver, smoking weed in Canada may have very well been illegal to this day. Learn the history of weed in Vancouver, how weed delivery and dispensaries like Weeds Vancouver began, and how marijuana is within the cities culture.
A Peaceful Smoke-In Protest Leads to the Gastown Riot
In 1923, the Canadian Parliament passed the first federal laws making marijuana use illegal. Very few people were arrested at first under the law. In fact, it wasn’t until 1937 when the first documented seizure of marijuana by Canadian law enforcement took place.
But the relatively unknown drug soon became more popular in big cities around the world. Vancouver, being located on the west coast of North America, was one of the first cities where marijuana use took root on a large scale.
At the start of the 1960’s, students and the hippie counterculture began buying, using, and growing pot more often. Weed delivery Vancouver became a thriving underground business. Although nothing compared to today’s convenience of being able to buy weed online in Vancouver.
By 1962, the number of yearly convictions for marijuana possession in Canada almost equaled the total number of arrests from 1930 to 1946!
By 1968, 2,300 people were arrested for marijuana use and possession every year. Vancouver’s students and “hippies” were common targets of these arrests.
But marijuana-loving subcultures saw nothing wrong with their love for a plant they observed to be safe, enjoyable, and therapeutic. The medicinal uses of marijuana to those suffering from chronic illness made people especially opposed to the prohibition laws.
So, to fight back, they rolled up some joints. A public cannabis “smoke-in” protest took place in Vancouver’s Gastown district in 1971. Even though the protest was peaceful, the open defiance of the law struck a nerve with Vancouver law enforcement.
Mounted police officers descended on the crowd, arresting individuals, beating some, and terrifying everyone else. The incident came to be known as the “Gastown Riot.”
Research Encourages Canada to Change Their Mind About Weed
In 1972, a year after the Gastown Riot, academics and those in the medical community grew curious about marijuana’s medicinal benefits and social effects. They concluded that arrests for marijuana use had more of a negative social impact than smoking the substance ever could.
Accordingly, they recommended that the Canadian government decriminalize marijuana possession immediately. This groundbreaking report was the first of many that pushed for the ability to have weed in Vancouver be decriminalized.
The 4/20 Festival Starts and the Arrest that Ended Prohibition Happens a Year Later
Echoing the spirit of the Gastown protest, marijuana advocates in Vancouver decided to organize Canada’s first ever pro-cannabis rally. The event was on April 20th, mirroring the popular “420” association with weed smoking.
On April 20, 1995, two workers at the “Prince of Pot” glass shop in downtown Vancouver organized a protest and event advocating legalization. 200 people took to Victory Square to publicly denounce Canada’s anti-marijuana laws. They also enjoyed music and some herb of their own during the small but vibrant peaceful gathering.
The next year, 500 people attended the 4/20 rally.
Just a few months later, Canadian citizen Terrance Parker was arrested at his home in Ontario. His charges were for cultivation, possession, and trafficking of marijuana.
The thing was, Terry Parker didn’t grow marijuana for fun and profit; he used marijuana to treat his epileptic seizures. Since the age of four, his seizures were constant, due to an accident. His doctor and him realized that cannabis was the only way to reduce and prevent his episodes.
In 1997, an appeals judge overturned Parker’s conviction, agreeing with his defence that his rights were violated by Canada marijuana laws. The case went to the Ontario Court of Appeal, and on July 31, 2000, Justice Marc Rosenberg declared marijuana prohibition unconstitutional.
Slow Legislation Leads to Weeds Vancouver and Other Dispensaries in Vancouver Operating Under the Radar
Despite the fact that medicinal weed in Vancouver was essentially legal after the Terrance Parker ruling, there was no update on Canada’s marijuana laws for regulating the safe sale of cannabis.
Instead, those looking to treat chronic pain with marijuana, or any other medical conditions, had to resort to black market dealers and underground options for weed in Vancouver.
Realizing this, Vancouver business owners decided to take action once more, even if it meant operating under the radar. Against Canada’s current federal laws, they vowed to provide safe, fair access to medicinal marijuana through dispensaries in Vancouver.
Some of the first options to buy weed online in Vancouver began to appear around this time, as did a flourishing mail-order seed business.
Mark Emery, owner of the “Prince of Pot” glass shop, was one of the first to openly flout the law and offer marijuana for sale in addition to paraphernalia. He also sold seeds for select strains with quality genetics so that marijuana lovers could grow their own product at home.
Emery’s operations eventually caused him to be extradited to the U.S. in 2002 for charges related to selling and shipping cannabis seeds.
Vancouver dispensaries, like Weeds Vancouver, helped establish the model for high-end businesses catering to select clientele through weed delivery Vancouver. When the U.S. Washington state legalized medicinal marijuana in 2014, many business owners used these Vancouver weed shops as inspiration.
Confusing Regulations Still Keep Weed Delivery Vancouver a Grey Market… Until Recently
Even though many Vancouver marijuana shops were in operation since 2010, they weren’t always operating on the right side of the law. 2012 federal marijuana laws in Canada actually declared the non-medicinal use of marijuana illegal and enforced minimum sentences for possession.
Yet people like Weeds Vancouver owner, Don Briere, insisted on keeping their doors open and also paying taxes like any legitimate business owner would.
By 2015, Vancouver had more dispensaries than the rest of Canada combined.
The options to buy weed online in Vancouver are now endless.
People with a prescription or a doctor’s note can obtain medical marijuana legally from any local establishments or places that offer weed in Vancouver.
One visit to Vancouver is all it takes to see just how pot-friendly the city remains. In fact, things like marijuana tours in Vancouver draw more cannabis-loving tourists to the city each year than ever before.
Now that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has introduced legislation to make recreational marijuana legal at the federal level, more people than ever can enjoy Vancouver’s dispensaries. They can also get high-quality marijuana more conveniently when they buy weed online in Vancouver.
We truly live in great times these days. For that, we have the dedicated cannabis community and marijuana advocates in Vancouver to thank for all the progress we’ve made!
