Prince George Mayor Simon Yu welcomes BC Craft Cannabis Summit Delegates with Tara Kirkpatrick, President, BCCFC.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 22, 2024

The BC Craft Farmers Co-Op is inviting the City of Vancouver to reconsider their 4/20 celebration policy and develop plans to host a major international cannabis tourism event that could bring tens of millions of dollars to the city and shine a light on the world’s best cannabis farmers.

“Instead of erecting barriers and using valuable police resources to shake down vendors, the City of Vancouver and Destination BC should embrace the concept of cannabis tourism,” said BC Craft Farmers Co-Op President Tara Kirkpatrick. “Vancouver has an opportunity to sanction an annual and professionally run special event similar in scale to Vancouver’s Pride Parade that celebrates British Columbia’s rich cannabis culture, promotes BC’s legendary craft cannabis farmers, and result in tens of millions of dollars for the BC economy. Some estimate the global cannabis tourism market to be over $15 billion. Our whole province can benefit from getting a piece of this market.”

The BC Craft Farmers Co-Op hosted their successful annual cannabis summit this weekend in Prince George. This year’s event featured BC’s first legally sanctioned cannabis street party in Downtown Prince George. The City of Prince George issued a permit downtown for an all-day 4/20 street party on Saturday. Thousands attended without incident, including the Mayor of Prince George.

During this year’s Cannabis Summit, delegates heard from Dr. Susan Dupej, PhD from Guelph University. Dr. Dupej has been studying northern California’s cannabis tourism industry over the past year and presented her preliminary research findings in Prince George.

Among other things, Dr. Dupej concluded that many of the conditions in northern California’s world famous ‘Emerald Triangle’ cannabis farming region can be applied to BC. Dr. Dupej highlighted BC’s unique cannabis culture and history of advocacy as a major advantage in attracting tourists to experience the place cannabis is grown and the passionate people farming the plant.

Dr. Dupej and BCCFC President Tara Kirkpatrick are available for media interviews today and this week to discuss the Cannabis Summit experience and these tourism opportunities.

Contact us directly at info@bccraftfarmerscoop.com to make arrangements.

Check out these media links from the Summit: