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VANCOUVER — “Doobies,” the dude shouted Wednesday morning, from an empty stage. “There will be doobies. Lots of them.” He paused, looked around. “Free doobies, for anyone here.”

The dude was getting bummed. There were few doobie takers outside the Vancouver Art Gallery, traditional home of what’s become an annual marijuana celebration. It’s also known as 4/20, for the date on which it falls.

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There were bewildered tourists, mostly, and local businesspeople and random passers-by. A dozen police officers were on hand. They looked bored.

The real action Wednesday was down at the beach, near English Bay, where the city’s dialled-in 4/20 promoters were staging a massive, open-air marijuana market and rally, perhaps the largest ever seen in Canada.

About 180 vendors paid organizers $300 each for the right to set up a booth and sell, sell, sell to the public: combustibles, edibles, cannabis products of all kinds. And no rules. There was no event permit, because none was required, despite an anticipated crowd of 25,000 to 50,000.