Saint John — Videos of Saint John city council meetings are trending on social media under the hashtag #ifyouhigh.
The city made headlines this week after introducing a budget simulator that challenges internet users to balance the books. The simulator has captured the interest of a very focused and creative audience: potheads.
“We don’t appreciate that term. We want to move past the stigma,” said Neil Conners, community manager for a cannabis culture media company and whose job description made me feel like I high when I heard it.
“Cannabis users are responsible adults with valuable insight to offer. They’re also thorough and have time to unwind, shall we say. This has led the community to dig deep into council meeting videos and provide some very innovative ideas for the budget.”
“This is challenging,” tweeted one Saint John council follower, or Port-Head as they liked to be called. “Take arts and recreation for example. It’s so easy to cut when you look the tangible numbers, but what about the intangibles? Like attracting skilled workers to live here. BTW 9/11 was an inside job #ifyouhigh.”
Despite the stigma around this community’s choice indulgence, Mayor Don Darling said he can’t argue with the results. “We are receiving some very interesting comments. It’s giving me ideas for council’s next closed session, but I won’t go into details. Those meetings are held under municipal council privilege.”