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The steak, ordered rare, was grey. I pointed this out to the waiter, who got the manager. “This steak is cooked just right,” the manager announced. He was stoned, too.

B.C. has long had a serious relationship with pot. Years ago, “B.C. bud” was in demand all along the West Coast, from Juneau to San Diego. But then hydroponics and the invention of medical marijuana introduced a whole new set of options.

In the last year, Vancouver pot entrepreneurs have expanded their operations with the usual unintended and comic political effects. Vancouver city council voted against allowing grocery stores to sell wine because it was said to be unhealthy. Yet, in a city that is poorly served with wine outlets, at least compared to Calgary, there are dozens of illegal pot dispensaries.

These are not places you need a prescription to purchase weed. They are retail stores advertising what’s in stock and the effects that, say, Bruce Banner No. 3 or Bubba Kush have on their clients.

Evidently, the Vancouver police don’t bother to enforce what is still Canadian law. Nevertheless, the municipality demanded these retail outlets purchase expensive business licences. Or at least it tries to do so. Several pot marts have discovered that they can get along quite well without a licence. And they refuse to pay when they are fined for operating without one.

There is also a gloomy side to the drug scene in B.C. By mid-December, more than 750 persons had died from drug overdoses, mostly from opioids. By normal standards, that would be an epidemic. Back in 2003, 44 persons died from SARS in the whole country and it was deemed an epidemic. In November alone, 128 people in B.C. died from drugs.