Does the Vancouver 2010 torch look like a joint?

All hail – or inhale – the 2010 Olympic Torch.

Or, as it's jokingly known around Vancouver, the Olympic Toke.

Composed of stainless steel, aluminum and sheet moulding, the torch was designed to evoke snow, ice, skiing and skating, but to many, the metre-long white torch looks suspiciously like a marijuana joint, especially when lit.

The observation has become so common in this city that it's hard to know who was the first to say, "Hey, doesn't that look like ..."

But the torch's resemblance to British Columbia's biggest cash crop was evident right away to Jodie Emery, editor of Cannabis Culture magazine.

"A lot of people come to Vancouver because it's marijuana-friendly, so I think people who already enjoy a joint themselves will feel a little more kinship to the Olympics," said Emery, who ran as a Green party candidate in the provincial election this month.

"I'm sure the organizers didn't intend for it to look like a joint, but that's what a lot of people are seeing."

The association between toking and the Olympics didn't begin with the torch, of course.

At the 1998 Games in Nagano, Japan, Whistler skier Ross Rebagliati won, then lost, the gold medal in snowboarding after testing positive for marijuana. The medal was returned after Rebagliati explained he had inhaled second-hand smoke. More recently, Olympic swimming sensation Michael Phelps was photographed in February smoking pot from a bong.

Industrial designer Mark Busse said he doesn't see a joint so much as a tweezer or scalpel.

"Sure, it may look a little bit like a joint, but I can tell you that what they were going for was ergonomics, sleekness, modernity," he said.

Suzanne Reeves, the Vancouver organizing committee's director of communications for the Olympic torch relay, said she has taken the torch across the country and people's faces light up when they get the chance to hold it.

At Nathan Phillips Square a couple of weeks ago, Reeves said she had the torch in a bag when a cyclist went by and did a double-take when he saw what she had.

Reeves said what she sees when she looks at the torch is the edge of snow and an unfurling flag.

"It's quite magical. Most people's reactions are emotional," she said.

The torch will be carried by 12,000 people over 45,000 kilometres as it makes its journey across Canada.

Because the torch will travel through the winter months, it had to meet some tough technical requirements, including being able to withstand high winds, cold temperatures and different altitudes.

The torch officially is meant to resemble the lines left behind by skiers and skaters on snow and ice.

Any double – or doobie – entendres, officials say, are purely unintentional.

Deputy manager in charge of 2010 Vancouver Olympic Village resigns

The deputy city manager overseeing construction of the Olympic Athletes Village for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games has resigned.

Jody Andrew's resignation is effective immediately, and there is no word on who will replace him, a source at Vancouver city hall told CBC News on Thursday night.

City manager Penny Ballem sent a note Thursday night to city councillors informing them of the news, media reports said.

Andrew's resignation comes as the athletes village faces major financial woes. Cost overruns have pushed the project's price to $875 million.

Fortress Investment Group, which was to lend the $750 million budgeted for the development, stopped advancing cash to builder Millennium Development Corp. in September, and the city has since been covering construction costs with a $100-million bailout loan approved during an in-camera council meeting on Oct. 14.

Negotiations with Fortress to reopen the loan are ongoing, but the city will have to find the money to complete the village by this fall if the negotiations fall through.

Andrew is the third senior city official to depart city hall since Gregor Robertson became the new mayor in November's civic elections.

In December, Robertson hired Ballem, a former deputy minister of health for B.C.'s Liberal government, as city manager, replacing Judy Rogers, who had held the job since 1999.

Estelle Lo resigned as the city's chief financial officer days after the municipal elections. She reportedly left because of concerns about the controversial $100-million bailout.

The B.C. legislature will reconvene for a special sitting at noon Saturday to deal with the issue of financing the completion of the athletes village.

Robertson has asked the provincial government to amend the city's charter, giving it authority to borrow the $458 million required to finish the project after Fortress stopped funding it.