Cannabis Coalition to hand out free joints to inauguration crowd

Shortly before Donald Trump will be sworn in as president of the United States on Friday, more than 4,200 marijuana joints will be distributed to the throngs of people watching the proceedings unfold.

The idea of the event dubbed #Trump420 is to send a message to the country’s next president and promote the legalization of marijuana at a national level, organizers say.

Behind the initiative is the DC Cannabis Coalition. After handing out joints, activists are planning to march on the National Mall to demand federal legalization of recreational weed.

“We started planning it in November 2016, when we knew that Sen. Jeff Sessions became a nominee for attorney general,” Nikolas R. Schiller, co-founder and director of communications at DCMJ said.

He added: “Our fifth installment of the #SmokeSessions campaign turned into #Trump420. We realized that cannabis is not a partisan issue and since the government in Washington, D.C., is prohibited from opening adult dispensaries, we could provide visitors with free cannabis in order to raise awareness about the unfinished cannabis reform.”

There could be setbacks with the marijuana legislation.

Sessions has made it clear that he is against marijuana legalization of any kind.

“It is important that President-elect Trump puts pressure on Congress to have cannabis withdrawn from the Controlled Substances Act and allow states to move forward with their own laws without the threat of federal interference,” Schiller said.

He acknowledged the uphill battle, but is hopeful.

“We cannot guarantee anything. That is why we are organizing the event for Trump to come out now and say that he fully supports the elimination of cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act so that states can pass their own reforms. We have even said that we would cancel the event if he sits down with cannabis reformers.”

-Miguel Velásquez