Several Vancouver-area cannabis incidents from 1935 to 2007 involved everything from a major Gastown clash to a vehicle-based grow operation.
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For decades, cannabis remained at the centre of public debate in British Columbia, leading to high-profile confrontations and unusual cases across the region. Even after legalization, several earlier incidents in and around Vancouver remain part of that history.
One of the best-known events tied to cannabis in the city happened in Gastown on Aug. 7, 1971, when protesters and police clashed. The gathering began as a smoke-in as a protest against undercover police said to target cannabis users and those selling it, and it drew up to 2,000 people. Police ordered the area to be cleared within minutes, but the order was not followed, and the officer in charge then ordered mounted officers into the crowd. Chaos followed, and police were widely criticized for how the confrontation was handled.
An aftermath inquiry included criticism of police conduct while also blaming protesters for instigating the riot. The description of the unrest included allegations that mounted police struck protesters, people were dragged by officers, protesters threw rocks, and police removed people from nearby shops.
A separate cannabis-linked case occurred near Alta Lake in 1935, when a settler used cannabis to catch a runaway pig. A June 1935 issue of the Daily Province quoted that the farmer had tried multiple traps without success and that the department of agriculture sent a dose of cannabis indica intended to put the pig to sleep without harming it or causing a drug habit. The pig initially refused laced food and water, but the farmer eventually used laced milk and chased the animal until it tried the milk, leading to the pig being returned to its pen.
In 2007, cannabis was also discovered in a vehicle-based grow operation in West Vancouver. Police were called after reports of an inebriated driver in a RAV4 in the ferry lineup in Horseshoe Bay in August 2007. When officers searched the vehicle, they observed open liquor and detected the odour of marijuana, then found 140 cannabis plants inside.
The vehicle had reportedly been retrofitted to support the grow operation using a transformer to boost electrical input, along with fertilizer and white sheeting. It was believed the plants had been in the SUV for several weeks.
Cannabis also intersected with the mail in Vancouver in September 2004, when cannabis was reported arriving through the mail in envelopes mostly addressed to American locations. The evidence described traffickers sending illegal cannabis by putting random addresses of innocent people on the envelopes while failing to apply enough postage to reach border checks, resulting in the mail being sent back to the sender.
Other reports from 1970 described widespread illegal cannabis cultivation in the Vancouver area. A Vancouver Province reporter and photographer were sent to a tip claiming plants were growing at UBC, in Stanley Park, and on Burnaby Mountain behind SFU. Plants were reportedly found in three locations, including downtown Vancouver in window boxes on Robson, South Vancouver in backyards from lanes, and the UBC Endowment Lands, with no exact addresses provided. The following day, police and the RCMP response included statements that they were growing their own cannabis to show people and that the RCMP “Cultivating Crew” had plants for testing, while one UBC RCMP spokesperson said there was “an awful lot” going on and questioned what authorities could do if someone claimed not to know it was marijuana.
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