City
Stoners gather at Yonge-Dundas Square for 4/20
Hundreds gathered at Yonge-Dundas square to partake in the yearly celebration that is 4/20. A cloud of thick smoke rose over the square at 4:20 p.m. as everyone (yup, even the wee teenagers) lit their joints and bongs.
The crowd was made up of predominantly 18 to 30 year olds, though there were a few of the requisite Timothy Leary types hanging around too. More entertaining was the dude dressed in a cannabis leaf with a QR code on the back (sign of the times I'd say). Some guy was enjoying the day so much that he was taking a... err... refreshing shower in the fountains running in the square.
Police stood surrounding the square as passer byers made non-sensical remarks to them. A overly happy teenager wished the officer, "Happy weed day!" One of the officers who has been at the event yearly remarked that it is always people coming together in a positive way. Not everybody felt that way, though.
As the crowd dispersed, I noticed a Sun News reporter wearing a gas mask that looked like it was from the First World War. He was interviewing/mocking one of the participants, who seemed to be transfixed by the mask. It actually looked scary (or maybe at that point I was starting to feel the effects myself).
I guess some people can never get into the spirit.
Photos by Tom Ryaboi
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You like to smoke weed? Awesome. Do it in the privacy of your own home.
Demonstrations like this are just stupid.
Burnouts are probably the most oppressed people in the world.
I only smoke weed in my house, without bothering anyone, but on 4-20 its a different meaning!
P
Sure people love weed, but why is it those who look like garbage are the only ones who attend this crap?
Plenty of decent looking people smoke weed more than you and your like do, yet you all wonder why you get such a bad wrap.
Be presentable and your cause will get the attention it deserves.
Keep that indoors, in your apartment, if you want everything to stink. I don't want to.
I hate this gathering. The type of people who attend this gathering are the reason pot is still illegal. If everyone were to use it responsibly and maturely, there would be no issue with legalization.
You guys are your own worst enemies.
They only look like that to people who believe that one should never act silly, dress casually, protest unjust laws, or have spontaneous fun in the company of others. I feel sorry for those people.
Marijuana is a safe and fun drug that causes a temporary and pleasant psychoactive reaction. Because some people irrationally think the government should prevent this particular type of happiness, billions are wasted on a pointless drug war, racial minorities are disproportionately charged with drug crimes, prisons are overflowing with people who never did anything to harm anyone, and worldwide underground drug cartels result in the death of thousands of people every year. So these people should be applauded for standing up against this drug war insanity, and one of the best ways of convincing people that the war needs to be stopped (in particular with regards to marijuana) is for people to realize that marijuana is a harmless, safe, and enjoyable plant that peaceful people use recreationally and responsibly.
Please don't pretend that this is a noble cause. Nobody was there because lives are being lost in places like Mexico because of underground drug cartels. They were there to get high in public and "protest" the fact that they can't legally buy weed.
how does the government benefit from this?
how do, oh say, pharmaceutical companies benefit..
start digging deeper people. examine the issues that aren't on the 6o'clock news
Now, more to the point of this article, it is an issue which you (kind of) raised that, being smoke, it can be unpleasant for those around the smoker. The same is true of tobacco, but it is particularly interesting to note here.
Something like this would be a lot of fun. I went to some 4/20 thing back at Queen's Park a few years ago and it's a trip. Really good vibe. So Dundas Square would have been great too.
I hate the Grateful Dead. I hate hippies for the most part as well. I don't care if weed ever gets legalized because it's not exactly hard to find. It makes me happy that this can happen in Toronto and nothing bad comes from it.
I'm glad BlogTO was there to take photos. Thanks guys!
My daughter smokes but my son doesn't and never has. I am not an "Occupy Toronto sheeple" in fact I have only protested once before in my entire life (against the seal hunt)
Yet I found myself down at the Square yesterday having fun...yes you heard me...fun...haters get a life...people protest everything and anything here in Toronto and April 20th is our day to celebrate and protest...don't like it...stay the f' away from the square that day
1) Always men
2) Almost always overweight or obese
3) Usually single, and virgins
4) Often unemployed
When I see drunk ppl here, I understand why drinking on the beach, streets .. and any public places are prohibited here... Their attitude is terrible.
I never see horrible drunk ppl on the street in my country.
In my country, we can drink any where, you can buy booze at convenience stores, and we have actually vending machines. But marijuana is strictly prohibited because of Fxxx America.
So many ppl above complain about smoking marijuana... but I guess some of them drinks and had experienced getting drunk and do something stupid... maybe street fighting.
Drunk ppl in the streets scares me way more than ppl who has red eyes and talk and act so slowly. They are not aggressive like drunk dudes.
Some of red eyed dudes seriously believes they can save the world with music.
Such peace. Drunker don't even try to save the world I guess.
I wasn't able to attend this 'protest' as i was WORKING. sigh/ sucks, but ya know.
And I'm a daily user. Oh, and I'm a business owner in downtown Toronto. And you'd never guess by looking at me I'm a daily pot smoker, that doesn't fit the stereotype of the photos shown above.
I don't need to smoke at the corner of dundas and yonge to prove anything. These people are insulting to the hard working people that you'd NEVER GUESS are daily users.
Oh well. Just goes to show what sort of people this event attracts.
This is unsurprising. If you legalize something you get rid of the black market for it. There is inherently a more limited market for cocaine than there is for marijuana because marijuana is safe and fun, cocaine is not. If you get rid of the black market, although you don't completely eliminate drug cartels, you eliminate it roughly proportional to the amount that the marijuana market is to the drug cartels, and this is a significant portion.
Furthermore, you cannot make a conclusion as to whether or not I have even ever smoked marijuana. That is also irrelevant.
Because if your aim was truly to raise awareness of injustice, you'd look pretty stupid if you were high as a kite while doing soon.
I can't imagine going to a protest of any kind stinking drunk, so why would it be acceptable to be high? It kinda defeats the purpose, no?
Anyways, this is a Blog about things to do in Toronto and where to eat. So on that note, I am not going to post anything else regarding this. Maybe tonight I will go to the new Singaporean hawker bar at Dundas and Ossington...
@Mike Then it wouldn't be mooch of a demonstration. The whole point is to show the weed can be consumed without any major negative side effects. Can you imagine if there was booze involved? There would be fights and people puking and at least a couple taken away by ambulances.
@Whoa Yeah the old dude, who probably at tented the first Woodstock sure does look like he lives with his parents. Not to mention all the rich and successful people that use weed. Just think of all the celebrities from Drew Berrymoore, to Snoop Dog to Kristen Stewart.
@Mikw Morgan Yu sound like you've been hitting the hard liquor, had enough to drink yet? Maybe you should slow down so you can constructed at coherent thought.
Now Harper, legalize the, before we outlaw you!
This also doesn't include the general side effects that are found when smoking just about anything - lung, throat and mouth cancer, heart disease etc...
Legalize it and leave it for the losers (or very sick people) in our society to use and I can benifit from the additional taxes in some way ore another. Enjoy your lung/brain cancer!