McGill, police kill the 4/20 buzz

Posted at 12:19PM on Apr 21, 2008 by web

I was holed up in the library, and so missed the commotion on lower field yesterday afternoon. This is based on an account from another news editor, Max Halparin.

As is typical for the 20th of April, a sizable group of students convened on the hill to enjoy the weather and smoke weed. A few McGill Security officers walked around - but they can do relatively little to stop students from smoking pot – or anything, really – other than to ask them to stop. So the gathering stuck around for a few hours.

Just before 5 pm, a police squad car – and then another and another and another, along with two Service de police de la ville de Montréal (SPVM) bicycles – went up through campus. With Provost Anthony Masi smiling and watching on, officers cuffed and arrested the first two students they could get hold of, and held up another pair of handcuffs to the rest of the crowd, implying that they would continue to make arrests if people didn't disperse.

Um, last time I checked, the police and the McGill administration have bigger fish to fry than to crack down on students smoking pot on 4/20. Despite calling all year for the police to increase foot patrols in the neighbhourhood to no avail, and especially in light of recent violent attacks in the area, it is totally outrageous that McGill and the SPVM would waste the time, money, and resources to call in 8 to 10 officers to break up a small crowd of pot-smokers, rather than put any real effort into the safety and environment of our public spaces.

I'd really like to see McGill, students, and the SPVM work constructively toward improving neighbhourhood relations, but this sure isn't it.

Kelly Ebbels
Coordinating news editor

If you were arrested on 4/20, or know who was, please email news@mcgilldaily.com.