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North Shore Rescue warns against hiking while high

Outdoors
Doper hiker
With cannabis legalization on the horizon, North Shore Rescue recently published a blog post on the dangers of mixing outdoor experiences with marijuana.

North Shore Rescue is warning outdoor adventurers the only mountain high that’s safe in the backcountry is one that isn’t drug induced.

North Shore Rescue recently voiced concern in an online blog post after learning that at least one tour company in the Lower Mainland is planning to combine outdoor experiences with marijuana.

Curtis Jones, a senior member of the rescue team, said members aren’t thrilled about the idea of backcountry hikers deciding elevation gain isn’t the only high they’re after.

With a recent mountain rescue call involving a woman on an acid trip fresh in their minds and marijuana legalization just around the corner, “It seems like a good time to get a conversation going,” said Jones.

Jones said a recent article about the Flower and Freedom website noted its promotion of events for the “cannabis-curious” where attendees can take part in excursions, “like hiking and snowshoeing,” while trip leaders discuss their personal experience with pot and leave those along for the tour free to do the same.

A recent post on the same website announced that outdoor adventure cannabis tours would be coming soon to Vancouver, run by the company High Definition Tours.

That raises some red flags for the team, said Jones.

“The mountains are not the place to learn your tolerance or to experiment,” he said. “We have enough trouble with people who are sober and clear-headed getting into trouble. We don’t need the added pressure from people who are not.”

Jones said the team has no position on what people do in their own homes or in the safety of a familiar environment. He’s also under no illusions that for people who are already marijuana enthusiasts, legalization won’t mean big changes to their habits.

What the team worries more about, he said, is that people who aren’t regular weed users might be tempted to experiment with it in backcountry terrain.

Drug-induced rescues have happened several times, he said.

Earlier this month, a young woman from Seattle had to be rescued after dropping LSD and having a very bad acid trip while hiking on Black Mountain.

In January, a 25-year-old snowshoer started having multiple seizures and losing consciousness near the top of the same mountain after consuming edible marijuana, said Jones.

In another case this winter, two men who were snowshoe camping on Mount Seymour took marijuana and ecstasy, resulting in one of the campers having a psychotic episode that ended up in dual stabbings.

Bethany Rae, the Vancouver woman who runs the Flower and Freedom website and contracts High Definition Tour operator Tristan Slade to run some of her cannabis-inspired outdoor activities, said she appreciates the concern of the rescue team.

But Rae said she’s not providing marijuana or promoting the idea that people get a buzz in the backcountry. “Not all cannabis consumption involves having to get high,” she said. “There’s a wide range of ways to consume cannabis,” including tinctures and creams that are non-psychoactive.

Rae said most of the outdoor activities are for events like yoga sessions or a walk around Stanley Park, although she acknowledged hiking North Vancouver’s Quarry Rock and the Grouse Grind are also among them.

“If anyone consumes cannabis at any of our events, it’s by their own choice,” she said, adding she wants to educate people on “healthy and responsible” cannabis use.

“People are consuming cannabis around us every day and maybe we’re not aware of it,” she added.

Reactions to the blog post have been mixed, said Jones. Most have been supportive of the rescue team voicing concern, while others expressed disappointment about “Reagan-era rhetoric” or said weed in the wilderness is not a big concern.

“Common sense is really what we’re asking for,” said Jones. “What people do in their own homes or the safety of civilization is not what we’re concerned about. It’s when it may activate a rescue.”