This Speedo-Wearing Dude Wants His Bong and Weed Back

Note: This story has been updated with an interview with our Speedo-wearing friend.

Sporting a skimpy pair of bright green underwear, thick red rimmed sunglasses, and armed with nothing but a bong, a 31-year-old man named Jeffrey Shaver stood tall in front of the Kitchener, Ontario courthouse Tuesday morning, with two signs that read "RETURN MY MARIJUANA," and "RETURN MY BONG."

Shaver was protesting his arrest by Waterloo Regional Police last October for possession of marijuana, according to The Record. In two run-ins with the police, two bongs were taken away, and only one was returned. Now he's demanding they return his shit.

The first arrest went down at a hospital in Cambridge. "I was having a panic attack," he told The Record. "And I was brought there and I had an issue with the vending machine and I was charged with trespassing and causing a disturbance by yelling. They asked me to leave. Police arrested me and searched me."

The police seized his bong and weed and in a fit of vengeance, Shaver made his statement. Two days later, he returned to the police station, with another bong, and ripped tokes on the front lawn of the station for all the police to witness. Of course, he was arrested again and was held in jail for 16 hours.

Surprisingly, the charges were dropped and his items were returned. However, the process of getting his old bong back has been slow.

"It's been going on for nearly 11 months now," Shaver told VICE. "It's just been dragging on with no real explanation, I was in all of my terms here."

Shaver claims that he has a legal medical marijuana card, and that he smokes pot to treat anxiety, depression, and back pain. He's been protesting since May, toking up in designating smoking areas at police stations and courthouses around Cambridge, Waterloo, and Kitchener. He believes people should be allowed to smoke medical marijuana in these areas.

"I'm just challenging that, if you're allowing tobacco in a location, you have to allow medical marijuana," he told VICE.

While the fight for his bong has been an ongoing issue, he's only been speedo-protesting for the past two weeks. When I asked him why, he told me that it was the best way to get attention.

"I felt like it'd be a bigger statement," he said. "It's funny, people see me smoking a bong and don't really question it. But when they see me in underwear, they're just like what the fuck, and you hear it sometimes too. A lot of people have been laughing ,having a good time about it. I think it all seems to be working out for me."

Our speedo-clad hero wants to take the fight to a human rights tribunal. His argument is that taking away one's medicine is a human rights violation, as stated in section 4 of the Ontario Human Rights Act. He hopes that his efforts will normalize marijuana, making it a legitimate medical option.

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