A Quarter Century of The Chron
In 1996, Nelson’s Holy Smoke Culture Shop was the centre of cannabis culture.
On October 15, 1997, the very same day as it’s one year anniversary, Holy Smoke Culture Shop was raided by Nelson City Police. The raid would’t be the first bit of press for the controversial pot shop, adorned by a beautiful and massive outdoor portrait of Peter Tosh. The shop and its owner, Paul DeFelice, Alan Middlemiss and Dustin Sunflower Cantwell, would go on to become Kootenay icons of the cannabis scene, and the shop itself, ground zero for 420. Kootenay Morning spoke with DeFelice and Cantwell on the 25 anniversary of the now defunct shop’s genesis.
