Perfect day for the 9th annual Global Marijuana March in Toronto...
I had no idea it was on today, but heard the parade on Yonge St, so grabbed
a camera and headed out. I used my older camera, and didn't realise the ISO was set high, so forgive the poor quality of the pictures. The parade down Yonge Street to Wellesley, and then west on Wellesley to Queen's Park had an estimated 1200 people. The throng at Queen's Park grew to at least double that during the afternoon. Here was the parade coming down Yonge St. Note: If anyone copies these for another forum, please don't just copy my photobucket link.. make a new [IMG] link as these pictures are being removed due to overuse. Thanks!

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j251/dawnd_01/IMG_0804i.jpg

and then heading west on Wellesley Street:

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Queen's Park was packed with merry makers... a sort of one million stoner's
march:

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in every direction, as far as the eye could see.. people huffing and puffing:

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patriotic puffers!

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Hell NO! we won't go! .... what was I saying?....

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This parade has been going on since... uhmmm... I forget

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King Edward the Seventh in a cloud of smoke. It is very unlikely he envisioned
something like this when he opened this park in 1860:

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But of course all that fresh air was bound to give people the munchies:

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Long lineups for a Mr Tasty...

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Time to work on that tan:

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Not a shy crowd...

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Lot's of entertainment for this crowd.. acts were fast and simple to keep up with short attention spans..

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what was I saying?

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oh yeah, I remember.. a festival atmosphere:

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no one was in a rush..

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there was a strange haze in the air on this brilliantly sunny day:

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at one point I found it difficult to see the statue through the blue haze:

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must have been a rare atmospheric condition today:

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*koff koff*

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mobile help for the hemp deprived....

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pretty decorations for home...

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now, where was I?...

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Oh yes! There was one lone protester.... but the hilarious thing was, I don't think many people realized he was protesting.. I am sure they all thought he was there to support the day with his little home made sign:

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But those who saw him were in hysterics. Something must have been in
the air today, because everyone was in a good mood. Here were our mounted
city police cooling their heels on the other side of the road near the Legislative building..
I wonder if they were noticing our protesting friend marching in front of them:

http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/1853/img0940idj9.jpg

They certainly found something funny! Sadly I had to toddle off to work at
this point, and missed the rest of the fun day.

Peace! Enjoy the pictures!
"Hey... Horsey... my eyes are up here!!"

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ps apparently 232 cities around the world signed up for a march today. If you captured
pictures of the parade in your city, feel free to post them here!
Note, smoking is bad, m'kay?

Interesting pics, though I don't quite get the point of being so bananas about the ganj that you feel the need to parade about it.

Cool collection of pics!

Interesting pics, though I don't quite get the point of being so bananas about the ganj that you feel the need to parade about it.



Never touch the stuff so wouldn't have a clue!! :angel:
However, I must say it was a good excuse for a party, and a good
time was had by all but one..... :cheers:

If you need a place to shack out on your way back, I can supply the munchies and a pillow..! :)

Dont these people have better things to do with their time?!

http://img509.imageshack.us/img509/74/img0950iwq7.jpg

:rofl:

This is hilarious! :hilarious

^^He must've been high.

They are the lucky ones. Marijuana is pratically legal there anyway. I go to Penn State and this past week the cops destoryed the lives of 25 students by charging them with numerous felonies for delivering small amounts of weed to undercover campus police. The real problem is at places like this. Something needs to be done to change this.

Poor canada

Im so glad i'm dutch :)
Cool serie, love to see pics from another country where people are really free too!

I have also accidentally stumbled upon rallies like these in Toronto. I'm surprised that these haven't been curtailed more recently given comments made by Vic Toewes. At the same time, there isn't any prison in Toronto large enough to hold all these teens. Nor would the police/federal government want to deal with the thousands of irrate parents afterward.

HAHAHA. .the protesting guy :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Hehe, a good representation of all ages in Canada between 16 and 23.

Anyway, it's probably a great thing for the city! I mean the restaurant business must boom afterwards.. think of all those munchies:eat:

This protesting dude is hilarious. He looks so angry and serious. LOL

HAha the protesting guy is indeed hilarious. :lol:

Heh, Toronto is a crazy place, I don't think I've ever seen such a place where everybody does what they actually want. That's great and it just shows how a developed society should be.

Great pics, I miss this city a lot.

Oh and BTW, is smoking weed in public areas allowed in Toronto?

What a silly thing to march for lol

His probation officer probably made him go there for a dirty piss test..!:lol:

And the best thing was 99.9% of the people just assumed he was supporting it!!
Not many people noticed his funny, crappy little home made sign!!



Oh and BTW, is smoking weed in public areas allowed in Toronto?

Technically it is still illegal, but the police stopped making arrests for small amounts a while back. Was a waste of everyone's time, especially the courts.

Poor canada

Absolutely. Feel sorry for us!! :D

Dont these people have better things to do with their time?!


Couldn't agree more. On a gorgeous, sunny warm spring day they should have been doing something
else, like.. working or something instead of being outside in the park having fun.

Please God send a heavy truck, a bus, 2 cars and 1 CBR-1000RR bikes to kill them all

Please God send a heavy truck, a bus, 2 cars and 1 CBR-1000RR bikes to kill them all
^^

You're a douchebag, maybe you should be run over.

Hehe, a good representation of all ages in Canada between 16 and 23.

Anyway, it's probably a great thing for the city! I mean the restaurant business must boom afterwards.. think of all those munchies:eat:

It took me a moment to figure out what was so odd about the crowd - they are overwhelmingly caucasian, quite a rare sight in Toronto.

^^

You're a douchebag, maybe you should be run over.

Noooo...you´re a douchebag, actually ;)

I´ll stay around

Noooo...you´re a douchebag, actually ;)

I´ll stay around

Claudio, you had your say so please don't ruin the thread. :)

Props to the lone protester for having the balls to go out there on his own though :bow:

To be honest, I think the poor guy was feeling a bit ignored. The second picture I took was on Wellesley St when I was leaving. He saw me after I had stopped my bike and taken the photo and he instantly cheered up and said:"Need a picture of my sign?!" and I thanked him but said I had it already. I think he was happy to be noticed, poor lad.

Fantastic! I love Toronto :banana:. Can't wait to visit this summer.

This should be the new flag of Canada
http://www.e-stoned.com/files/images/129.jpg

Note re: legality--Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal (and similar) are the cities where, for all intents and purposes, marijuana is practically legal (basically quasi-legal) unless you grow huge quantities of it. However, in smaller towns and cities, the situation is not nearly so free and you can get arrested and get a criminal record for even small-time possession. Although there is technically one law of the country, the reality on the ground is very different.

Although I don't get the point of having a RALLY (I mean, it's not like people are really denied the chance to smoke/toke up in TO), I also don't get the 'protesters' in this thread either... They're not forcing you to smoke it, they're not hurting anyone but (arguably and certainly less than legalised cigarettes) themselves.

cool pics
we also had Marijuana day but it was pretty small one...:(

There are "compassion centres" in the city that openly sell marijuana to people who can bring a note from their doctor saying they would benefit from the effects of THC. They do a booming business....
I don't think this was so much a protest, as a celebration, and a prod to the government to decriminalize
small amounts of the drug, even if the police have stopped making arrests.

They all look so peaceful.
I <3 the ganj.

Looks like a fun time.

Everyone looks so toasted.

Oh and BTW, is smoking weed in public areas allowed in Toronto?

In my lifetime, I have never heard of a person being charged for lighting up in public. That said, people are discrete about it. People don't typically walk down Yonge St. puffing. A friend of mine had an officer take a joint from him and stamp it out. That was about 15 years ago, so this is not a new atitude.

The scent is expected in any large park after dusk.

Grow ops get busted all the time. Seems like a weekly thing.

In many ways, that is the point of the protest. People want to be able to buy it from a corner store (well, a specialty store). Alas, being next to the US makes that difficult to do (not sure why, prohibition didn't stop us). So that is why it is "illegal".

Many non-users here support "legalization" because everyone knows that the biker gangs control the trade.

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hehe, cops look pretty baked too :lol:

I really wish that I lived in Canada now. :(

hehe, cops look pretty baked too :lol:
So do the horses.

"Although I don't get the point of having a RALLY (I mean, it's not like people are really denied the chance to smoke/toke up in TO), I also don't get the 'protesters' in this thread either... They're not forcing you to smoke it, they're not hurting anyone but (arguably and certainly less than legalised cigarettes) themselves."

It's not so much a rally as a pretext for everyone getting together in Queen's Park to toke up. I guess calling it a march makes it seem like more of a "real event" than if it were called "weed day". The march itself only took up a fraction of the time of the whole Queen's Park party.

This was my first year (every other year I forget to attend... go figure) and it was a blast. Pretty much just a big outdoor party populated by stoners :P

I'm definitely going again next year.

LOL, all the 420 types should just admit that this is their religion!

Good point about the biker gangs. For whatever the reason, biker gangs in Canada are now more prevalent than in the US and are also more violent.

free Marijuana :nocrook: whats happen with the police, they are laughing so much:?

haha, truly signs of a free society...Great pics...

Until quite recently it was legal to grow up to ten plants where I live. That's changed, but cops still won't charge you for possessing a small amount, for the same reasons as Toronto.

Not that I advocate the use of illicit substances :runaway:

Shocking! So many law-breaking Canadians in one place :)

My guess the reason pot isn't legal yet is because the people represented in that park are not the type that would work tirelessly with their representatives to encourage them to enact legislation. Not when you could toke up and eat Cheeto's......not that there's anything wrong with that.... :cheers:

Nice to see the Toronto cops not overeacting to the march...

It's not legal there because of the US. If they made pot 100% legal the United States would be outraged. Not that this is at all a good reason. It's time for people to learn the facts about marijuana. The only adverse health affects come from the smoke and it is possible to consume cannabis in other ways. The whole gateway drug argument is pathetic. Millions of people use weed and never touch other illicit substances. Also, if weed were legalized, violent crime would drop dramtically since people wouldn't shoot each other over turf rights to sell. The DEA could arrest as many people as they want and seize thousands of pounds, it still wont make a difference since its an herb that grows naturally.

Lovely place to visit. Police probably were not necessary, were they?

Unbelievable that smoking weed is still regarded as an offence, while waging wars for economic reasons is generally accepted.
How misled can a society be?

Lovely place to visit. Police probably were not necessary, were they?

Unbelievable that smoking weed is still regarded as an offence, while waging wars for economic reasons is generally accepted.
How misled can a society be?

The police must be out every time the city grants parade and festival permits
(and this was city approved). Even for the Santa Claus parade the police must
be in attendance in case Santa goes on a rampage and... well, you know! LOL!
They have never made any arrests in the 9 years of the parade, and they have absolutely no intention to. It is a peaceful, fun day out and the police are laid back like they would be at Pride Day .

It's not legal there because of the US. If they made pot 100% legal the United States would be outraged. .

If Canada didn't pass any laws that outrage the USA then we would not have gay marriage or other liberal laws; we're actually getting used to them disapproving of most things we do. At the moment it is mostly an internal issue... the minority government in at the present are the Conservatives, and they have no desire to change any laws. I am not a user, but I don't see it as being any more of an issue than selling alcohol. At the moment the police do not arrest for small amounts of possession. As far as I know in the Netherlands, they never changed any drug laws, or passed laws making drugs legal... they just completely stopped enforcing the laws (unless this has changed recently).

The police must be out every time the city grants parade and festival permits
(and this was city approved).

I assumed so. ;)

I assumed so. ;)

I think it is the same in every city. If the police didn't show up and something
happened, they would be completely unprepared.

lol it shows you oneness of Canadian cities. Sure we are architecturally conservative but are quite liberal socially. Police never do anything, it would be chaos to deal with 12000 high teens.


The thing is smoking a cigarette now is seen as a worse thing then smoking pot. If you smoke pot, people laugh. If you smoke, your stupid.

Why older people: over 25 years dont march there??
maybe they got a shit experience with marijuana and great portion of paranoia and now sitting alone home and watching around who gonna kill em :)


The thing is smoking a cigarette now is seen as a worse thing then smoking pot. If you smoke pot, people laugh. If you smoke, your stupid.


50 years ago when you have been smoking cigarettes you was cool ..times changed.. wait another 50 years and ..things happend

Why older people: over 25 years dont march there??
maybe they got a shit experience with marijuana and great portion of paranoia and now sitting alone home and watching around who gonna kill em :)

Wow, what a great analysis there bud :lol:


50 years ago when you have been smoking cigarettes you was cool ..times changed.. wait another 50 years and ..things happend

..except that people have been smoking the ganj for thousands of years, and has been a part of mainstream western society since the 1960s (and arguably, even before that, what with the hilarious 1930s "Reefer Madness").

Also, in the case of cigarettes, people did not know of any harmful effects until later on, whereas with marijuana it is the exact opposite case. On the past, people believed it was much worse than it has proven to be in more recent years.

I wish I could have been there:naughty:

wow, i'm amazed all those stoners found the motivation to walk that far!!!

I spent yesterday high and didn't make it off the couch for 12 hours....oops.

It's not legal there because of the US. If they made pot 100% legal the United States would be outraged. Not that this is at all a good reason. It's time for people to learn the facts about marijuana. The only adverse health affects come from the smoke and it is possible to consume cannabis in other ways. The whole gateway drug argument is pathetic. Millions of people use weed and never touch other illicit substances. Also, if weed were legalized, violent crime would drop dramtically since people wouldn't shoot each other over turf rights to sell. The DEA could arrest as many people as they want and seize thousands of pounds, it still wont make a difference since its an herb that grows naturally.

For a really insightful and hilarious look at American policy towards weed, rent "Grass" (1999) a doc directed by Ron Mann with Woody Harrelson as narrator. Available on DVD. You willl be appalled at the amount of money and resourses the DEA has squandered and still is squandering in its losing war against cannabis use. It rivals Iraq as a lost cause - well, except for the carnage and loss of life of course.

^^ Thanks for the tip, Jaborandi! I will keep an eye out for that one. I'm a bit surprised at the interest in the festival, so will post some more pix. Again, sorry
the quality of them is crap. Wrong camera, and wrong iso settings. But, you can get the "drift"...

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It has been a few years since I stumbled upon one of these festivals, and
I have to admit I might have expected an older washed-out hippie crowd, and
was a bit surprised how young the crowd was.

The thing is smoking a cigarette now is seen as a worse thing then smoking pot. If you smoke pot, people laugh. If you smoke, your stupid.
Well I know that's how I feel; my roommate and his friends are always smoking pot and hash in his room, and I don't say anything even tho I don't particularly like it, but when friends come over wanting to smoke cigarettes, I sure make a fuss! There's no way I'm having that shit in my house...

I haven't smoked in a good 18years... but I never object to a little second hand smoke now and then out in public! Sometimes it is kind of nice to get a whiff of it, and I am never tempted to actually go back to that filthy enslaving habit. I can remember when you could smoke during exams or lectures at University. The worst is when it is in your home, or on your clothes the next day. That smells disgusting. Ironically I don't really like the smell of pot very much, but you get used to it after a few minutes when the entire downtown area smells of it! ;)

yes i remember playing a friendly soccer game with friends in grade 12. Three guy were smoking pot on the side. I swear an hour later, everyone was playing really weirdly. There were 4 own goals in the game....

Crime would probably decrease also..! Hard to hold a grudge when your high...:banana: That's why I LOVE these forums..! :)

LOL! That's one way of looking at it! :lol:

Nice pics!

Those are some pretty fly white guys, yo. Its a shame some of those beautiful girls subscribe to that crap.

I mean, Ive smoked just as much as the next guy, but I never understood that whole 420 culture bullshit......:ohno:

What a party! I wish I was there...torontean girls are really hot!

Im gonna roll a joint right now :D

Thanks for the pics

Don't bogart it my friend... Pass it to your right! :wink2:

http://img509.imageshack.us/img509/74/img0950iwq7.jpg

:rofl:

This is hilarious! :hilarious


hahaha!:lol: he does not look impressed! his leaf looks like the touristy directions signs they have around here. is he protesting against giving directions to the public. maybe he just likes watching people get lost. actually, maybe thats why he's following a huge crowd of stoners about. well good for him.


that look awesome! nothin beats chilling in the park on a hot sunny day blazing away.

my apologies if already posted...but here are pics from the rally in Des Moines, IA.

http://qchemp.tzo.com/videos/ia2007gmm/ia2007gmm.htm

here is the website for the rally:
http://www.globalmarijuanamarch.org

:ohno:

i really like the sun taning picture!:)
and that rally in des moines is just hilarious, a whole 20 people showed up, hooray!:lol:

WOW i love that Canadian Freedom ;)

I wondered where this thread had gone when it was moved! LOL! Thanks for discovering it for me! :cheers:
A recent international poll showed 16.5% of Canadian adults have tried pot within the last two years, which is the highest in the industrialized world and four times the international average! :lol:
I don't do it myself as it hurts my lungs too much and I not only lose my memory but get the munchies something wicked.