Residents ‘love’ marijuana plants sprouting on Vancouver traffic circles but police not amused

nationalpost.com
July 21, 2015
By Sadaf Ahsan

Residents of Vancouver’s hip Mount Pleasant neighbourhood have found marijuana plants among the flowers and shrubs of at least two traffic circles, sparking local joy and a race between residents and police to harvest them.

“I think it represents a good sense of humour in the neighbourhood,” resident Stephen Tanner told CTV, adding such gardens are usually tended by locals.

Eric Lamond and several other residents said they have seen marijuana plants growing in the centre of traffic circles along Ontario Street in the past few months in what seems to be a random series of guerrilla gardening.

‘‘I love it. It’s beautiful, it’s a beautiful plant, we should all be enjoying it, right? It’s nature,” Lamond told CBC News.

The neighbourhood is full of media types, and one of whom tweeted a photo of wild weed on Monday. Twitter was quickly abuzz.

“Vancouver, where marijuana is so abundant, it grows on public land,” said Jeremy Phan.

“It’s B.C. - was anyone really surprised?” said Vincent Hui.

By the time news outlets and social media had picked up the location at noon Tuesday, it became a race to Ontario and 20th to pluck the plants. By the afternoon, Vancouver Police had removed another plant at Ontario and West 19th.

Vancouver Police spokesman Randy Fincham said the “alleged” marijuana plant had been “determined to likely be a male cannabis plant and therefore not capable of producing THC, rendering the plant legal hemp.”

But while social media were in an amused uproar, city officials took a practical approach.

“It is suggested by the VPD that if we come across plants in a public space again, that we inform the police and remove it how we would normally remove any greenery, via operations crews from Parks or Streets,” said Taryn Scollard, director of streets with the City of Vancouver.

“The plant material can either be composted or otherwise disposed of.”

Emerald Asuncion, a spokeswoman for the British Columbia Compassion Club Society, Canada’s oldest and largest medical cannabis dispensary, said it’s the first time they had heard about free-range marijuana.

‘‘This is, surprisingly, not a common sight in Vancouver,’’ she said. “It’s always nice to see happy, healthy plants in this city.”

A 2012 Angus Reid Public Opinion poll found that British Columbia had the highest level of support in Canada for legalizing cannabis, at 61 per cent, compared to an overall 53 per cent.

A 2007 study on world drug use conducted by the United Nations said 40 per cent of Canadian cannabis was produced in the province, suggesting it may have been only natural the plants would find their way on to the streets.

The VPD’s stated policy puts a low priority on cannabis possession charges, and there are nearly 100 cannabis dispensaries in the city. In June, city council voted to regulate and license them - the first city in Canada to do so.

As for marijuana flourishing in the wild, Vancouver is not alone.

Last week, the Mounties in Swift Current, Sask., found several pot plants growing among other flowers in a city planter. Investigators suspect someone  simply dropped some seeds in - a potential scenario in Vancouver as well.