“He’s said that good people don’t smoke marijuana,” Mr. Schiller said of Mr. Sessions, referring to comments the Alabama senator made in April. “We found that to be insulting to the millions of Americans that do.”

Marijuana Group Passes Out Free Joints for Trump’s Inauguration

By Jonah Engel Bromwich, January 20, 2017

Don’t be surprised if, shortly after Donald J. Trump begins his inaugural address on Friday, tiny streams of smoke begin to rise from the crowd.

A marijuana advocacy group said it was giving away approximately 8,000 free joints on Friday. Early in the morning, hundreds were lined up in Dupont Circle in northwest Washington, where the cigarettes were being handed out.

The protest was planned by DCMJ, which was founded in 2013 in a successful effort to change laws regulating the drug in Washington. The group made its plan, to smoke at least 4,200 joints, known well in advance.

In a phone interview Friday morning, Nikolas Schiller, a founder of the group, estimated that DCMJ members had rolled about 8,000 joints for the protest. The number was only an approximation, he said, adding that many volunteers had brought their own marijuana.

It has been legal to possess small amounts of marijuana in Washington since 2015, but illegal to smoke it or ingest it in public spaces. Mr. Schiller said that protesters were “encouraged to light them up if they want to engage in nonviolent civil disobedience.”

Mr. Schiller said it will be “up to the actual individuals” to decide whether and when to smoke the joints, but the group had suggested they begin at about four minutes and 20 seconds into Mr. Trump’s inaugural address.

The protest was not intended to be a statement against the new president himself. But Mr. Schiller said it was “definitely true” that the group was protesting the nomination of Senator Jeff Sessions for attorney general, noting that the group was concerned Mr. Sessions would plan raids on marijuana dispensaries and cultivation centers.

“He’s said that good people don’t smoke marijuana,” Mr. Schiller said of Mr. Sessions, referring to comments the Alabama senator made in April. “We found that to be insulting to the millions of Americans that do.”

Source: New York Times