Pro-marijuana activists are planning to protest at Sen. Jeff Sessions’ confirmation hearings beginning Tuesday.
The Republican senator from Alabama is President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to be attorney general. He has condemned the use of marijuana, which is banned by federal law but has been legalized for recreational use in eight states and Washington, D.C.
Protesters will wear T-shirts that say “Great Americans Smoke Marijuana” to Sessions’ confirmation hearings, according to activist Adam Eidinger. They plan to be in line for the hearing by early morning.
“This is political warfare. There is no respect in Washington for the marijuana movement or its business interest right now,” Eidinger told Reuters.
Eidinger is part of an effort to distribute thousands of free joints on Inauguration Day.
The first 4,200 people to line up on the west side of Dupont Circle in Washington at 8 a.m. on Jan. 20 will receive a complimentary joint. The thousands of stoned participants are then expected to descend on the National Mall to crash Trump’s speech to light their blunts exactly four minutes and 20 seconds into the president’s speech — which is supposed to be symbolic of the 420 international code for weed.
“The main message is it’s time to legalize cannabis at the federal level,” said Eidinger. “We are looking at a guy [Sessions] who as recently as April said that they are going to enforce federal law on marijuana all over the country. He said marijuana is dangerous.”
