Olympics Puts Spotlight on Vancouver’s Liberal Drug Policies

The Olympic host city of Vancouver has adopted a series of liberal drug policies that are on full display to any visitors who venture into the Downtown Eastside neighborhood, less than a mile from the waterfront epicenter of the 2010 Winter Olympics.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Feb. 16 that the neighborhood is home to various head shops, medical marijuana clinics, and Insite, the continent’s only legal safe-injection program for opiate addicts.

Marijuana isn’t legal in the city, but some observers say that’s a distinction without a difference in Downtown Eastside, where couples can be seen sharing a joint in local parks and stores openly sell bongs and other smoking paraphernalia.