Hundreds of Canadians have taken to the streets to celebrate the legalization of recreational marijuana following a nearly century-long ban.
Canada officially became the first industrialized nation to legalize the drug on Wednesday following a two-year push by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government, which hopes to bring dealers out of the black market and into a regulated system.
Cannabis connoisseurs appear to have embraced the new system as massive queues formed outside many of the 111 legal pot shops now open around the country.
Eager consumers were pictured spewing smoke on the sidewalks, using up products almost certainly purchased on the black market as they waited to get their hands on the legal version.
However, it seems not everyone has gotten the legalization message.
Toronto police launched a public awareness campaign Wednesday reminding people to stop calling authorities to snitch on their neighbors’ marijuana use now that it’s legal.
The police force posted a series of snarky tweets featuring people calling 911 for obviously absurd reasons in order to make its point.
One of the tweets shows a stock image of a woman struggling to read a map along with the words: ‘Asking for directions because you’re lost is not a 9-1-1 call. Reporting an adult smoking a joint isn’t either.’
Another shows a woman looking in her refrigerator with the words: ‘Asking what to do with your frozen meat during a power outage is not a 9-1-1 call. Smelling weed coming from your neighbor’s home isn’t either.’
Both tweets include notes about where it is legal to consume marijuana (anywhere cigarette smoking is allowed except in a motor vehicle) and who is allowed to consume it (anyone 19 years an older) along with a note that the aforementioned goofy 911 call was actually made to police.