-- the Vancouver Bulldog is just a restaurant, no more. It is owned by the same Dutch owner of the Amsterdam Bulldogs, but you can't smoke or buy pot there. You would probably be kicked out or arrested, this is a nice respectable place.

The food is excellent, ranging from burgers thru fish and pasta on to Dutch style croqettes. I had the Zalm (salmon) & chips, and they were able to substitue rice for the chips. My friend had burgers, salads, and chicken. We were all quite satisfied with the service and the food.

-- there is no shop that a tourist can walk into and BUY pot. You must deal with some really shady people and buy pot of unknown quality and inflated price. I still suspect that locals can sometimes find pot inside the shops, but not officially.

-- So this is not Amsterdam, there is no place a tourist can drop in and buy pot in a safe environment where they can make a choice and not look out for cops.

-- There are cafes where you can smoke pot at your own risk. So far I found Blunt Brothers and the New Amsterdam Cafe. I spent a little time at the New Amsterdam, it was too much like a regular store.

-- Blunt Bros has an excellent atmosphere for smoking some time away. They play music, sometimes have bands, and there are nice murals to look at on the walls. The place reminds me of my favorite Rokerij coffeeshop in Amsterdam near Leidselplein, but the fans go much faster here.

-- BB sells great food snack and drinks: I had the burrito, plus teas and a nice soymilk mocha coffee thing.

-- Blunt Bros and the New Amsterdam Cafe are in the worst part of town, right across from the crack park and the heroin neighborhood. It's worth being there for the cafes, but otherwise go up to Robson St, or any of the other zillion interesting places in Vancouver. Do not hang out at the BB/NAC at night except in groups. I personally felt fine, but this is the type of area that you want to be careful in, don't talk to wierd people unless you have previous experience.

-- Scores: tried the door with no luck, then got it first time with guy in park. His two shields at first tried to say they didn't know where to get any pot, but then one of them decided we were ok and took us up to the guy with the pot.

-- That was very nice pot, good taste, good in joints. I got a handful for 20 dollars, though I'm pretty sure it was Canadian, while the dealer commented that it was a new 20 from America. So I paid either $13 or $20 for enough pot to make 4-5 good joints. No one we met after this had better pot than this, nor did they have this quantity at this price.

Crosstown traffic, private club, probably sold pot, recently closed. Across the street is Blunt Bros. The Cannabis Cafe up the street from BB is recently closed, around the corner is the New Amsterdam Cafe. Across from New Amsterdam is the Cambia hostel/pub/restaurant. Looks like a good place for the young and broke.

--- Hi-

Yeah, it's pretty bad here.

There are coffeeshops where you can buy pipes and smoke your pot, but they do not sell pot there (maybe to the locals, not to tourist me.)

Cannabis Cafe is closed, Crosstown Traffic private club is closed. The Bulldog is just a regular restaurant.

The New Amsterdam Cafe and Blunt Bros are the only coffeeshops I found, nice places that sell coffee, tea, and food, and let you smoke pot at your own risk.

But to get pot you must still deal with street dealers, and the "Green Zone" is in nearly the worst part of all downtown next to the heroin park and the crack neighborhoods. The is a large number of shady looking people walking around trying to sell pot in small bags at OK to high prices. I felt safe, but in general I would say this is not a safe way to get pot.

The pot on the streets ranges from bad to reasonably good. The hash is really dirt, and no one I met offered hash. Buyer beware.

Though there is an exception or few to this which will not be apparent/available to the usual tourist. More later.

There is very likely a wonderful private scene here, as BC is a well-known pot captial, and BC Bud is famous. I wish I could stick around long enough to find it.

I didn't smell anything really great in the shops either, I imagine if I lived here and was in on the local grow scene, there would be little reason to hang out in the worst part of town to smoke in a public place when I could just go home...

So far I would not advise people to travel here just for the bud. On the other hand, Vancouver is a great place to be a tourist.

JimL