On Saturday, the D.C. Cannabis Campaign held a large protest outside the White House. The protest, named “Reschedule 420,” was to urge President Obama to reschedule marijuana before his term is up. The protest consisted of the participants all smoking at 4:20 and holding up a giant, inflatable joint.
The protest was a response to the inactivity of Obama on the issue of marijuana deschedulization federally. Obama has admitted to using pot in the past, as has most everyone, and someone who referred to him and his pot smoking friends as the “Choom Gang.” The protest was moved from 4/20 to 4/2 be “Obama has been a big zero on cannabis reform.”
Close to hundreds of people showed up to protest, knowing they could be arrested at any minute. While Ballot Initiative 71 is law in D.C., the White House is federal property and does not fall under its protection if you are caught with marijuana. Also, public consumption is still illegal in D.C. Surprisingly though, only two people were arrested and given $25 public consumption tickets. These people seemed to be selected at random by the local Metro Police.
Other than that and the inflatable joint being deflated on the Secret Service’s behest, the police’s involvement was almost nonexistent.
Here’s a video of the event:
Posted by DCMJ on Saturday, April 2, 2016
It is still not understood why the police were so lenient on the illegal smoke-in, but the protesters were very thankful and respectful to them. Cheers of “Thank you police!” came from the crowd as they moved away. Many others stayed behind to clean up litter saying:
“Clean up your f-cking trash, nobody got arrested today!”
Everyone on both sides of the protest were respectful and gracious to each other and that’s rare to see in a country where a governor in Maine won’t swear in a senator because he didn’t endorse him.
This isn’t the end for the D.C. Cannabis Campaign. They say that because:
“Change happens at the speed of protest, our efforts will go on.”
So hopefully the next protest will go as smoothly as this one went.
Featured Image via DCMJ.org
