VANCOUVER — The organizers of the annual 4-20 marijuana celebration in Vancouver say they have paid the City of Vancouver and the Vancouver Park Board for expenses related to the unsanctioned event.
Vancouver police estimated as many as 40,000 people attended this year's gathering, which has been held on Sunset Beach for the last three years, despite the park board's refusal to issue a permit.
The city has complained the event has grown to include hundreds of cannabis-related vendors and costs as much as $100,000 for policing and other related expenses.
Event organizer Dana Larsen says $63,000 has now been paid to the city and park board to cover sanitation, security and park maintenance.
Larsen says the payments were in response to invoices from the city and although he believes the bills were unclear about the exact costs incurred, he says "we just paid everything, anyways."
The cannabis culture celebration is held annually in many cities on April 20, shortened to 4-20, and includes a mass marijuana smoke-in at 4:20 p.m.
