Marijuana legalization advocates in Washington have rescheduled the infamous 4/20 holiday for Saturday. Organizers said they moved the event up a few weeks to call attention to the need for reform by President Obama.
“Due to popular demand, we’re rescheduling 4/20 this year to 4/2 because Obama’s been a BIG ZERO on cannabis reform,” the D.C. Cannabis Campaign said in a statement. “Some people think we should not protest President Obama in an election year. But if not now, when? Let’s make the rescheduling of cannabis a campaign issue now.”
The organization also hopes their challenge to Obama spills over to the five presidential candidates.
“This is a challenge to the front-runners. Will Donald Trump overturn D.C.’s legalization? Has Hillary evolved long enough on the issue of cannabis to support legalization? Will Bernie Sanders taken a national legalization approach instead of a state-by-state approach?” the group said.
Protestors plan to gather outside the White House on Pennsylvania Avenue at 2 p.m. to hear from speakers before jointly consuming variations of pot substances. In addition to smoking, vaping and eating food, protesters will also carry a 51-foot inflatable joint.
Organizers admit they have not requested a permit from the National Park Service for the event and defended the decision as their “constitutional right to peacefully gather.” Still, some pot advocates say the move could backfire.
“Smoking in a public park where families and children are vacationing is not going to be the way to encourage the president or member of Congress to do what we need them to do,” Marijuana Majority founder Tom Angell told Think Progress. “It also sends a message to those voters from all around the country who are visiting D.C. that legalizing means huge clouds of smoke in public parks.”
The D.C. government legalized small amounts of marijuana for private consumption last year. Cannabis is a Schedule I controlled substance in D.C., and activists have called for its reclassification to Schedule III or descheduling altogether.
