[420 Girl]

Vancouver - At the New Amsterdam Café on nearby West Hastings, there was also little sign of a police crackdown on Vancouver's permissive marijuana culture.

Chris Szabla, 23, was in town from Toronto for the Olympics and happened by the New Amsterdam Café, where marijuana is smoked openly.

Szabla said he was impressed, but a little confused by the rules, which have led to some very smoky crowds celebrating on the streets of downtown during the Games.

"I've never had first-hand experience with enforcement here, so I just go by what my brother told me and what I see in the street," he said.

Szabla has good reason to be perplexed. Apart from medically sanctioned use, marijuana remains illegal even in small quantities in B.C., but enforcement is often as hazy as the air in the New Amsterdam Café itself.

It is a position that even Vancouver police have a hard time articulating.

"Umm, how do I say this," said Vancouver police spokeswoman Const. Lindsay Houghton. "Our officers show a great deal of discretion when it comes to possession of marijuana."

That discretion, according to Houghton, means trafficking is not tolerated but simple possession rarely, if ever, results in charges.

That informal approach is being passed on to the roughly 6,000 visiting police officers in town to bolster security for the Games.

The visiting officers are told the rules are the same here as anywhere in the country, said Houghton. "However, a lot of them know, because it is quite well documented in the media, discretion is shown."

http://www.420magazine.com/forums/in...crackdown.html