WASHINGTON — The annual marijuana protest known as 4/20 came early this year.
A few hundred people protesting federal drug policy arrived at the White House on Saturday, imploring President Obama to remove marijuana from the list of highly controlled Schedule I drugs.
Their 51-foot inflatable joint, however, didn't make the trip down Pennsylvania Avenue. The Secret Service allowed the protest, but not the inflatable, after a number of recent incidents involving people flying drones and throwing objects over the White House fence.
"We're late. We got distracted by a standoff over an inflatable joint," the protest's organizer, Adam Eidinger, announced a half-hour after the protest march was supposed to start. "Come on, stoners! Put down that fake joint for a real one!"
The annual protest usually takes place on April 20, but was rescheduled to emphasize the theme of the protest. Protesters want the Obama administration to move the drug to a lower schedule, or to remove it from the schedule of controlled substances entirely. Doing so, they say, would lead more states to decriminalize marijuana and encourage more medical research.
Dozens of protesters engaged in civil disobedience by openly smoking marijuana in front of the White House beginning at 4:20 p.m., a time long associated with marijuana smoking and cannabis culture. Police wrote at least two citations.
"Cannabis has benefited me tremendously medicinally," said Lauren Dove, 27, of Washington, D.C., who was given a $25 ticket for smoking marijuana in public. "It helps people. I don't think it's dangerous."
While the District of Columbia legalized marijuana last year, it's still illegal to smoke it in public — and possession is still illegal on federal property regardless.
Obama, who has admitted to using marijuana as a youth, has resisted calls to take executive action to decriminalize marijuana, saying those changes need to come from Congress. "The president’s response was if you feel so strongly about it, and you believe there’s so much public support for what it is that you're advocating, then why don't you pass legislation about it, and we’ll see what happens," White House press secretary Josh Earnest said in January.
Obama himself didn't see the protest — he had left for Joint Base Andrews on Saturday morning for a round of golf with sportswriter Tony Kornheiser, astronaut Mark Kelly and Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
