Tag: 420 Demonstration

People came from all over the country on Saturday April 2nd to witness and help carry a 51-foot inflated marijuana joint in a demonstration headed for the White House. They were calling for Federal de-scheduling of marijuana as a dangerous drug. After several attempts to get the inflated joint onto Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the US Treasury Building (next door to the White House), the police refused to let it pass by to get to the White House, calling it a security threat. After the joint was deflated, the police still would not let it pass. The demonstration proceeded to the White House without the joint. For almost two hours, people took turns at the microphone, talking about the need to decriminalize marijuana. At almost 4:00 pm, the joint miraculously reappeared on Pennsylvania Avenue, directly in front of the White House. The police escorted it away through Lafayette Park, out the northeast corner of the park. At about 4:20 pm (or possibly earlier), people lit up marijuana joints in front of the White House and openly smoked cannabis in front of news cameras and police. In the end, after all that police and security presence, two people were given a citation for a $25 fine, one of them for blowing marijuana smoke into the face of an officer.