Though Canada is, by and large, more tolerant of recreational marijuana use than other countries, it’s still illegal. So don’t be stupid, criminals.
HOLY SMOKE
At the Church of the Universe in Hamilton, the parishioners didn’t just pass a collection basket—they passed a joint. The sect was founded by Walter Tucker in 1969 and held as its core beliefs that marijuana use is a sacrament. Conflict between the church and local authorities culminated in Tucker being sentenced to a short stint in prison in 2008. Tucker died in 2012, but the Church continues to advocate for the reform of Canadian marijuana laws. The church teaches that ganja is the “Tree of Life” described in the Book of Revelations and that being nude like Adam and Eve brings us closer to God, making them a great deal more fun than most religions.
HEY KIDS!
When Ryan Place opened a business in Esquimalt, B.C., in December 2012, he thought he might follow McDonald’s lead and promote it with a mascot. The only problem was that Place’s business is the Bong Warehouse, and his mascot was a cuddly, giant, fluffy, blue-colored water pipe named “Bongy” who stands outside the store and invites shoppers to come in and look around. The town council was not so smitten with the cartoonish Bongy. Some council members felt that Bongy was promoting an illegal activity, and that the company is using a character that might appeal to kids. Place disagrees. “People smile when they see him,” he defended his creation, though he did not clarify exactly why they were smiling.
HAZY DUTY
Canadian troops fighting in Afghanistan in the 2000s frequently had to contend with Taliban fighters taking cover in the region’s dense cannabis groves. Marijuana is a very tough plant and difficult to see through, even with thermal devices, difficult to cut down, and impossible to drive through. Even when the soldiers could get the stuff to burn, it introduced new problems: “A section of soldiers that was downwind from that had some ill effects and decided that was probably not the right course of action,” General Rick Hillier, chief of the Canadian defense staff, remarked in 2006.