Group Handing Out Free Marijuana At Inauguration In Push For Federal Legalization

Will handing out thousands of free joints convince the federal government to legalize marijuana? That may be unlikely, but there will be free weed exchanging hands on Inauguration Day in Washington, D.C.

The DC Cannabis Coalition — also known as DCMJ — is planning to give out 4,200 joints to whomever wants one on Jan. 20 in Dupont Circle, before marchers move on to the National Mall for the inauguration of Donald Trump. Attorney General nominee Jeff Sessions is against marijuana legalization, calling it “dangerous” and “not funny.”

“The main message is it’s time to legalize cannabis at the federal level,” Adam Eidinger, the founder of DCMJ, tells USA Today. The group was founded by DC residents who introduced and helped pass Initiative 71, which makes it legal to possess two ounces or less of marijuana or grow it, but it isn’t legal to sell it. Giving it away, however, is just fine.

Smoking it in public is another matter, which is where the illegal part of this plan comes in: Four minutes and twenty seconds into Trump’s inauguration address, recipients of the free weed are being encouraged to start smoking… but at their own risk.

“We are going to tell them that if they smoke on federal property, they are risking arrest. But, that’s a form of civil disobedience,” said Eidinger. “I think it’s a good protest. If someone wants to do it, they are risking arrest, but it’s a protest and you know what, the National Mall is a place for protest.”