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The RCMP and festival officials are clearing up the haze around cannabis at Craven Country Thunder this week.
This is the first time the drug has been legal for the country music festival.
According to Country Thunder’s Gerry Krochak, the festival hasn’t banned cannabis outright like some other events in the country, but it’s not actively encouraging its use either. There aren’t any cannabis smoking areas like there are for cigarettes.
He explained that the rules at the festival are similar to those if you’re at home.
“If you would like to do it, and you’re in the privacy of your own camper, we can’t check every single camper and see if everyone’s smoking pot every night,” Krochak said.
But Krochak did say that if patrons choose to smoke, even in the privacy of their campsites, they run the risk of being questioned by the RCMP.
“You can’t walk around with a beer here either. It’s that type of thing,” said Krochak.
RCMP
As always, the festival is crawling with RCMP officers and cannabis isn’t too big of a concern for them.
“We treat the Cannabis Act pretty much almost identical to the Alcohol and Gaming Regulations Act. If you’re caught in public consuming either alcohol or cannabis, you’re going to be charged under the various acts,” explained Staff Sgt. Devin Pugh.
In the privacy of your own campsite, Pugh said if you choose to consume alcohol or cannabis, you can.
“If you leave your campsite then you’re in a public place — you can’t consume it in a public place, or in a vehicle as well, and also with minors,” said Pugh.
Officers will be enforcing the impaired driving laws hard in the area, including for those who are drug impaired. Pugh said the RCMP’s testing device for cannabis has been moved to the Lumsden detachment for the festival.
Campers
Cannabis seemed to be a non-issue for the majority of festival-goers who were in the campgrounds on Thursday.
Nearly everyone who was asked was either neutral on the subject or all for it.
“I’m all for it. Why not? It’s legal,” said one man who laughed and then said that he smokes it himself.
A woman in a cowboy hat and white shirt who was setting up her campsite said she doesn’t smoke cannabis personally.
“But I mean, if I pass by your campground and you’re doing it in your own space, then that’s fine,” she said. “I probably wouldn’t appreciate it if it was in the grandstand or something, like in my face — that I wouldn’t like. But if you’re in your campground then whatever. It’s legal so …”
One woman thought a bit of cannabis might be a good idea.
“Might calm some people down a little bit. Hopefully not as many fights,” she said.
A group of older campers were all right with the idea.
“We don’t use it, so it doesn’t matter,” said one woman.
“If they’re at their own trailers, it doesn’t bother me. I don’t care,” said her friend.