Pubdate: Sat, 21 Jan 2017
Source: Willamette Week (Portland, OR)
Copyright: 2017 Willamette Week Newspaper
Contact:  http://www.wweek.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/499
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)

10,000 PEOPLE SMOKE CANNABIS ON INAUGURATION DAY IN WASHINGTON, D.C. TO
PROTEST TRUMP'S PICK OF DRUG WARRIOR JEFF SESSIONS

[photo] 10,000 People Smoke Cannabis on Inauguration Day in Washington,
D.C. to Protest Trump's Pick of Drug Warrior Jeff Sessions The weed was
pretty good. #Trump420 protest in Washington, D.C. (Corey Pein)

An estimated 10,000 people lined up for five blocks to collect some 8,000
free joints at this morning's surprisingly punctual #Trump420 protest at
Dupont Circle in Northwest Washington, DC.

The mellow, all but police-free event was a first stop for President
Donald Trump's protesters and fans alike this Inauguration Day morning.
The weed was pretty good.

Organizer Adam Eidinger, who co-founded the pro-legalization outfit DCMJ,
was at pains to note that the event was not anti-Trump, but aimed at
Trump's pick for attorney general, U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), who
advocates for old-fashioned drug war.

"We're saying withdraw Sessions' name now," Eidinger says. As for Trump,
"He has not mentioned marijuana once since he was elected president. His
silence is terrorizing us."

The District of Columbia decriminalized cannabis in 2014, the same year
Oregon voters passed recreational legalization. Advocates fear a
Sessions-led Department of Justice will effectively snuff out such
statewide legalization efforts.

The long line for handouts drew many entrepreneurs, such as Rissy Berliner
and Mike James of Virginia, who did a brisk business hawking their
homemade Bernie Sanders rolling papers, made with "100 percent natural
hemp and natural Arabic gum."

Several young local dealers were also working the line, catering to the
impatient and the picky. "I don't want those skinny-ass Js," one young
dealer said. "Mine is straight from the dispensary, OG Kush."

At Dupont Circle park, prices were hard to beat. "That motherfucking line
is long as shit," one old dealer said. "If you don't want to stand in
line, I got $3 jake, $3 jake."

About a dozen Bikers for Trump rolled by just before the free weed ran out
at around 10 am, but there were no Altamont-like scenes of mayhem, and
after passing close enough to catch a contact high, the bikers turned
around and carried about their mysterious business.

A van also rolled by, honking, at one point. A woman leaning out the
window shouted, to cheers: "Alcohol kills, weed doesn't! Weed! Weed!
Weed!"
- ---
MAP posted-by: