Cannabis has been legal for many months now but the controversy over Vancouver's annual 4/20 weed celebration event hasn't subsided.

The Vancouver Park Board held an emergency meeting Monday night and passed a motion asking organizers to cancel a scheduled concert by Cypress Hill, in an effort to control crowd size.

"I consider that request to be ridiculous," said Dana Larsen, one of the organizers of 4/20. "Obviously, we're not going to be cancelling."

Despite cannabis now being legal, he's adamant the need to protest isn't over.

"One of the many things we are protesting is the lack of access of cannabis," he said. "Considering the amount of controversy and discussion [4/20] is generating, it seems to me like it's one of the biggest and most important protests in the city."

Safety concerns

The park board also hasn't issued a permit for either the event or the concert happening this weekend — something that concerns those responsible for public safety.

"It's hard to plan for something when it's not licensed," said Jonathan Gormick, public information officer for Vancouver Fire and Rescue.

"I can't imagine the size of the crowd that a band like Cypress Hill is going to draw, and that's a big public safety concern."

He worries that emergency responders will struggle if anything goes wrong, whether a medical emergency or a collapsing stage or worse.

"It's going to be absolutely massive and crowds of that size are hard to deal with," Gormick told CBC's The Early Edition. "If we were to have something major … getting people out safely is highly doubtful."