Canadians protest in peace in Hamilton

To end the day on a more uplifting note, Canabian Day in Hamilton went off without a SWAT team intervening.

City Hall was the scene of a marijuana smoke out over the weekend as 300 users lit up to celebrate Canabian Day.

Hamilton police watched from a distance Saturday while protesters -- most of them in their late teens and early 20s -- passed around joints, pipes and bongs.

Despite earlier warnings from police of swift arrests of anyone caught with marijuana, officers barely acknowledged the trafficking of pot happening right in front of them.

"I have an operational plan and I'm following it and it's working well," said Superintendent Glyn Wide. "I'm not interested in any altercation here today. We're just making sure people are going to protest safely and without any injury."

Keynote speaker and pot activist David Malmo Levine handed out more than half an ounce of unpressed powder bubble hashish -- worth about $1,000 -- to protesters who sat cross-legged in circles, pipes and bongs in hand. Bongs are specialized pot-smoking devices.

Isn't it cute that they explained that? There was a reported cacophony of positive response from the passing traffic to the sign, "Honk if you blaze."

Nice to have some good news for a change.