Marijuana activists will meet at Victoria Park Friday for a toke and a discussion about the federal government's plan to legalize and regulate pot.
The gathering in the downtown park is part of the annual 4/20 demonstration, marked every April 20 at 4:20pm in cities across North America. Once a rally to champion cannabis culture and push for pot legalization in the country, the event is now more about offering legislators some constructive criticism regarding their regulations.
"We are in a process of refinement now. We now are getting to the point of legalization but the policy that's been laid out is not very good," said 4/20 Organizer Eric Shepperd. "We are effectively looking at a government-owned monopoly enforced by police resources, which is not very ethical. We would like to see a more libertarian approach to this, where we have private retailers and taxation that is appropriate to the drug in question."
Shepperd also voiced concern with the methods police use to identify a person driving under the influence of marijuana, as the drug can stay in a person's system weeks after use.
"The only tests we have available are going to catch false positives," said Shepperd. "It's going to catch people who have had cannabis in their blood but are not currently impaired by it."
With the forecast calling for sunshine and a daytime high of 6 C, Shepperd anticipates more people will flock to the park than last year, when rain kept the numbers down to a few dozen.
"There is no formal plan for [Friday]. We're planning on effectively just showing up in an organic way and discussing the new legalization legislation that's forthcoming," said Shepperd.
He is optimistic London police will keep their distance during the event.
"In the last two years, there has been no visible police presence so we are assuming it is going to be about the same this year," said Shepperd. "Since the legislative climate has changed it seems as though the prohibition of this is not a huge priority for the local police."
Last year, police circled the park in both marked and unmarked cruisers but did not have any uniformed officers visible.
"It remains a criminal offence for an individual to possess marijuana and the London Police Service will be enforcing the law," said Constable Sandasha Bough, when asked what strategy police would use at this year's rally.
The federal government introduced legislation last spring to legalize recreational marijuana by this summer. The bill, known as Bill C-45, narrowly made it through second reading in the Senate last month and is now being reviewed by committee.
The new legislation would allow those 18 and up to publicly possess up to 30 g of dried cannabis, or its equivalent in non-dried form.