Members of the DC Cannabis Campaign (DCMJ), the group in charge of an event where people decided to smoke marijuana in front of the White House earlier this month, received an invitation this week from the Obama Administration to go to a meeting next week to talk about the cannabis reform movement in the United States. Adam Eidinger is the co-founder of the DCMJ. He reported to the Washington Post that he was writing to the White House for years asking about a “Bud Summit” where a discussion would go on about how to get cannabis off of the Schedule I listing. However, this did not happen until the “smoke-out” occurred along with a 50-foot inflatable joint passed by with “Obama, Deschedule Cannabis Now” written on it.
Eidinger adds that he was shocked to hear back from the Obama Administration for a sit-down to take part in a real debate over the marijuana movement, yet states that he is not sure whether the summons has any true meaning. Keith Stroup is the founder of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). He reports that he was “cringing” after seeing the group’s smoke-out in front of the White House and states that their tactics were in the wrong era since this is already a nation “on the verge of finally ending marijuana prohibition.”
Highlighting the humiliating numbers that took part in the DCMJ demonstration (perhaps a hundred or so protestors), in comparison to the hundreds of thousands who used to come together to stand against war, Stroup stated “The latest protest at the White House…made us all look less than serious and politically naive, and it did nothing to move us closer to full legalization in the District, or to encourage President Obama to push marijuana law reform further under federal law.”
