FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Adam Eidinger, Press@DCMJ.org, 202-744-2671

Monday, April 17, 2023

Attn: Morning TV Bookers, DCMJ spokespeople are available for morning interviews at the White House or in studio on 4/20/2023 beginning at 7:00 am.

WASHINGTON, DC– As Americans gear up to celebrate the annual cannabis holiday of 4/20, DC Marijuana Justice (DCMJ) is taking their message to the streets with “4/20 Theater.” This newly-written, two act play uses guerrilla theater to draw attention to the ongoing struggle for cannabis legalization and highlights the annual political theater surrounding America’s only illegal holiday. This week across the United States, there will be large and small gatherings including smoke-ins, where cannabis users gather to consume cannabis socially, as well as speeches from politicians highlighting progress, even though the plant remains federally illegal. 4/20 Theater is the only known theatrical protest that has been organized across America for April 20th, 2023.

“The public is tired of annual political promises around the 4/20 holiday that have proven to be elaborate dog and pony shows,” says Adam Eidinger, co-founder of DCMJ and proposer of Initiative 71, which legalized cannabis in the District of Columbia. “Elected officials must actually legalize cannabis or at the very least ‘deschedule’ it by White House executive order in order to make amends for their failed policy that has locked up tens of millions of Americans, disproportionately Black and Brown people, for no good reason for over 50 years.”

WHO: Members of DCMJ, Students For Sensible Drug Policy, and Freedom Grow
WHAT: 4/20 Theater, a two act play about cannabis reform in America
WHERE & WHEN:
ACT I, 10am, 4/20/23, Pennsylvania Ave, North of the White House
ACT II, 4pm, 4/20/23, Third Street, between Madison Dr. NW and
Jefferson St. SW, on the National Mall

The script for 4/20 Theater can be found on DCMJ.org  It was written by members of DCMJ, Maryland Marijuana Justice, and Virginia Marijuana Justice using portions of both real and fictitious speeches from elected officials.  Authors and actors are available for interviews at the performances.

ABOUT DC MARIJUANA JUSTICE  Since its founding in 2013, DCMJ has led the nation in creative and high-profile cannabis reform activism. After introducing and passing DC’s Initiative 71 in 2014, which voters legalized the possession and cultivation of cannabis, DCMJ organized three large seed giveaways that provided all adults and Congressional staffers the means to grow cannabis for themselves, deployed giant 51-foot inflatable joints outside the Capitol, the White House, the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Times Square in New York City, the 2016 Presidential Debates, Annapolis Statehouse and Boston’s Freedom Rally, as well as distributing over 10,000 joints of District of Columbia homegrown cannabis at the Inauguration of President Donald Trump, and attempting to distribute 1,227 joints at the congressional “Joint Session” in 2017, where U.S. Capitol Police unlawfully arrested seven DCMJ activists (All charges were dropped the following day). On April 20, 2021, DCMJ distributed more than 4,200 joints at vaccination sites across the District of Columbia in conjunction with its “Joints For Jabs” cannabis giveaway, which was spontaneously adopted around the U.S., including by the State of Washington. DCMJ demands cannabis be removed from the Controlled Substances Act and all Americans are given the right to grow cannabis in the safety and privacy of their homes.

---

Click here to download a copy of this press release

You might not realize it, but you are both an audience member and a participant in the annual 4/20 Theater. You see, every year around the cannabis community’s favorite holiday, we get a bunch of performative speeches and statements from elected officials about cannabis reform. This year we are going to highlight the annual dog & pony show  with our own 4/20 Theater and we’ve written a press release below for you to read, share, and, hopefully, sign up to participate. Our next 4/20 Theater Zoom Meeting is scheduled for Thursday, April 13 at 8pm and all tokin’ thespians (YOU!) are invited!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Adam Eidinger, Press@DCMJ.org, 202-744-2671

Tuesday, February 28, 2023

WASHINGTON, DC – April 20th, better known as 4/20, is the day cannabis consumers celebrate the cannabis plant in our society, but every year the holiday passes without the federal government taking action. Across the United States there are large and small gatherings including smoke-ins, where cannabis users gather to consume cannabis socially.  Every year there is, without fail, a news cycle around 4/20. American politicians, aiming to remain relevant to the cannabis community of voters, will issue press releases and statements highlighting their ongoing support for cannabis reform. However, repeatedly at the federal level nothing gets done – no new laws get passed, people still get arrested, billions of dollars are wasted on policing, and cannabis continues to remain the most consumed illegal substance in America.

The harm caused by the endless performative actions by politicians will be highlighted by DC Marijuana Justice (DCMJ) this April with their new protest strategy called 4/20 Theater. 

“The public is tired of annual political promises around the 4/20 holiday that have proven to be elaborate dog and pony shows,” says Adam Eidinger, co-founder of DCMJ and proposer of Initiative 71, which legalized cannabis in the District of Columbia. “Elected officials must actually legalize cannabis or at the very least ‘deschedule’ it by White House executive order in order to make amends for their failed policy that has locked up tens of millions of Americans, disproportionately Black and Brown people, for no good reason for over 50 years.”    

As a community group, DCMJ is inviting members of the public to participate in the planned 4/20 Theater to be performed at the White House and Capitol Hill on April 20, 2023. There will be a series of Zoom meetings through March and early April where the script and ultimately casting and rehearsals will take place for what is expected to be a no holds barred portrayal of how national political leaders exploit the cannabis issue but rarely change a thing while people continue to be incarcerated for the plant.  The next Zoom is scheduled for Thursday, April 13 at 8pm.  Members of the public and the media can register to attend by signing here.

“It’s a tragedy that elected officials have gotten away with faking reform, so we decided it’s time we shine a bright green spotlight on the federal government’s 4/20 theater of the absurd,” said Nikolas Schiller, co-founder of DCMJ. 

ABOUT DC MARIJUANA JUSTICE  Since its founding in 2013, DCMJ has led the nation in creative and high-profile cannabis reform activism. After introducing and passing DC’s Initiative 71 in 2014, which voters legalized the possession and cultivation of cannabis, DCMJ organized three large seed giveaways that provided all adults and Congressional staffers the means to grow cannabis for themselves, deployed giant 51-foot inflatable joints outside the Capitol, the White House, the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Times Square in New York City, the 2016 Presidential Debates, Annapolis Statehouse and Boston’s Freedom Rally, as well as distributing over 10,000 joints of District of Columbia homegrown cannabis at the Inauguration of President Donald Trump, and attempting to distribute 1,227 joints at the congressional “Joint Session” in 2017, where U.S. Capitol Police unlawfully arrested seven DCMJ activists (All charges were dropped the following day). On April 20, 2021, DCMJ distributed more than 4,200 joints at vaccination sites across the District of Columbia in conjunction with its “Joints For Jabs” cannabis giveaway, which was spontaneously adopted around the U.S., including by the State of Washington. DCMJ demands cannabis be removed from the Controlled Substances Act and all Americans are given the right to grow cannabis in the safety and privacy of their homes.

---

Click here to download a copy of this press release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACTS: Adam Eidinger, Press@DCMJ.org 202-744-2671 Ken  Bazinet, Ken@DCMJ.org 202-660-2449

Thursday,  December 8, 2022

WASHINGTON, DC – DC Marijuana Justice, Maryland Marijuana Justice, Virginia Marijuana Justice, and New York Marijuana Justice (DCMJ, MDMJ, VAMJ, NYMJ, collectively known as “the MJs”) are pleased to hear that WNBA basketball player Brittney Griner has been released from Russian prison. After having been tried and convicted of possessing a small amount of cannabis oil at a Russian airport earlier this year, she was released in exchange for convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout. We are happy that she is on her way back to the United States in time for Christmas, but call upon President Biden to release all domestic cannabis prisoners before Christmas.

“Brittney Griner was unjustly imprisoned, a pawn used by Russia’s Putin, so it is remarkable the President slammed-dunked, gaining her freedom by releasing one of the worst people on earth who had zero moral equivalency to Griner and her ‘crime.’ With President Biden on the path to cannabis legalization, he can now show the same enthusiasm for freedom for thousands of Americans in federal prisons for cannabis offenses,” says Adam Eidinger, co-founder of DCMJ, and organizer of the “Free Brittney” demonstration outside of the Russian Embassy in Washington, DC on Thursday, Oct. 26, 2022. Eidinger asks, “Why is releasing Russian arms dealers morally OK when we won’t release American cannabis farmers in federal prison?”

“The weapons that Viktor Bout sold invariably led to hundreds if not thousands of deaths, the same can’t be said for the federal cannabis prisoners who got locked up for growing cannabis plants in the US,” says Kris Furnish, co-founder of MDMJ, which recently helped pass Question 4, which will legalize cannabis cultivation and possession in Maryland. “The United States government is showing that one cannabis prisoner in Russia is more important than thousands of American cannabis prisoners,” concludes Furnish.

By most estimates there are about 2,800 federal cannabis prisoners who were not pardoned in October because they were convicted of charges more serious than simple possession. In some states cannabis oil is legally treated as hash oil and has stiffer penalties than simple possession of unprocessed cannabis.

“The Griner family will get a special present this year, but so many families won’t receive the gift of presence,” says RachelRamone Donlan, co-founder of VAMJ. “There are thousands of families across the United States who wish they were as lucky as Brittney, and President Biden has the power to bring all of the cannabis prisoners home for Christmas.”

ABOUT DC MARIJUANA JUSTICE
Since its founding in 2013, DCMJ has led the nation in creative and high-profile cannabis reform activism. After introducing and passing DC’s Initiative 71 in 2014, which voters legalized the possession and cultivation of cannabis, DCMJ organized three large seed giveaways that provided all adults and Congressional staffers the means to grow cannabis for themselves, deployed giant 51-foot inflatable joints outside the Capitol, the White House, the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Times Square in New York City, the 2016 Presidential Debates, Annapolis Statehouse and Boston’s Freedom Rally, as well as distributing over 10,000 joints of District of Columbia homegrown cannabis at the Inauguration of President Donald Trump, and attempting to distribute 1,227 joints at the congressional “Joint Session” in 2017, where U.S. Capitol Police unlawfully arrested seven DCMJ activists (All charges were dropped the following day). DCMJ will distribute more than 4,200 joints at vaccination sites across the District of Columbia on April 20, 2021 in conjunction with its upcoming “Joints For Jabs” cannabis giveaway. In 2018, 2019, and 2021, aligned organizations MDMJ, VAMJ , COMJ, and NYMJ were formed to advocate for cannabis reform in Maryland, Virginia, Colorado, and New York. In 2021, DCMJ conceptualized and launched the “Joints for Jabs” coronavirus vaccination incentive program that was spontaneously adopted around the U.S., including by the State of Washington. DCMJ demands cannabis be removed from the Controlled Substances Act and all Americans are given the right to grow cannabis in the safety and privacy of their homes.

###

---

Click here to download a PDF of this Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACTS: Adam Eidinger, Press@DCMJ.org 202-744-2671 Ken  Bazinet, kennethrbazinet@gmail.com 202-660-2449

Wednesday,  December 7, 2022

WASHINGTON, DC – During the lame duck session of the 117th Congress, education and advocacy organization District of Columbia Marijuana Justice (DCMJ) calls on Senate Democrats to pass the MORE Act, not the SAFE Banking Act. The SAFE Banking Act will do nothing for the average cannabis consumer and only helps the fat cat cannabis industry executives move massive amounts of money across state lines. Moreover, the passage of the SAFE Banking Act does nothing to remove cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act, which will allow the federal budget rider sponsored by Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD) that prevents the creation of a retail cannabis market in the nation’s capital to remain in place for another year, possibly two. Voters in Washington, D.C. approved full legalization in 2014, but the Harris rider has prevented the D.C. government from passing legislation to reduce penalties for any Schedule I substance, including the taxation and regulation of retail cannabis sales.

If the Senate were to pass the MORE Act, the Harris rider would become moot because his rider only concerns Schedule I substances listed in the Controlled Substances Act and the MORE Act would fully remove cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act. The SAFE Banking Act is seen by cannabis consumers as a means for corporate cannabis conglomerates to get a leg up over legacy businesses.

“There is no marijuana justice in the SAFE Banking Act. How does Congress justify allowing the cannabis industry to have access to the federal banking system at the same time it doesn’t allow voting age Americans to have access to legal cannabis under federal law? It’s like legalizing money laundering,” said DCMJ co-founder Adam Eidinger.

“But the true irony here is Congress fully intends to give the cannabis industry a big gift at the same time it tells D.C. voters to ‘go to hell, your vote doesn’t matter.’ It’s hard to grasp the Democratic congressional leadership allowing corporate rights to supersede civil rights, but that is the path they are on,” Eidinger added.

At the center of the problem is a group of Republican senators, who say they will back the industry getting to use federal insured banks, but they won’t support an outright legalization bill that includes sweeping criminal justice reforms and equity guarantees. At the very least, Democrats should demand a public up or down vote on SAFE Banking in the Senate so everyone can be on the record. Instead, the plan at the moment is to attach SAFE Banking as a rider to the Pentagon budget, omnibus budget bill, or a continuing resolution just as Congress does in the case of the Harris Amendment, which is also tacked on to the federal budget.

“The MORE Act is what the majority of Americans want. The Senate Democrats should pass the MORE Act today,” said DCMJ co-founder Nikolas Schiller, who also co-founded New York Marijuana Justice in Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s home state. “If Congress passes the SAFE Banking during the lame duck session, we can kiss good-bye any hope for federal legalization until after the 2024 elections. The true legalization advocates in Congress will lose the little leverage they have to try to find more votes for full legalization over the next two years. The House already passed the MORE Act, so Sen. Schumer should act now.”

Kris Furnish, who co-founded Maryland Marijuana Justice (MDMJ) added, “The American people will not get the freedom to choose to use cannabis, and once again the will of the voters of the District of Columbia will be rejected. This is not what the leadership promised cannabis voters before last month’s elections. We were led to believe we would get a vote on outright legalization. We’re sick of being lied to by our elected leaders. We elected them believing they are fighting for us, but clearly they are not loyal to their constituents.”

Co-founder of Virginia Marijuana Justice (VAMJ) RachelRamone Donlan called it “disgraceful for Congress to sell out full legalization for an industry give-away, but it is unconscionable to do so while you ignore the will of D.C. voters by once again passing the Harris cannabis prohibition rider at the same time.”

ABOUT DC MARIJUANA JUSTICE
Since its founding in 2013, DCMJ has led the nation in creative and high-profile cannabis reform activism. After introducing and passing DC’s Initiative 71 in 2014, which voters legalized the possession and cultivation of cannabis, DCMJ organized three large seed giveaways that provided all adults and Congressional staffers the means to grow cannabis for themselves, deployed giant 51-foot inflatable joints outside the Capitol, the White House, the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Times Square in New York City, the 2016 Presidential Debates, Annapolis Statehouse and Boston’s Freedom Rally, as well as distributing over 10,000 joints of District of Columbia homegrown cannabis at the Inauguration of President Donald Trump, and attempting to distribute 1,227 joints at the congressional “Joint Session” in 2017, where U.S. Capitol Police unlawfully arrested seven DCMJ activists (All charges were dropped the following day). DCMJ will distribute more than 4,200 joints at vaccination sites across the District of Columbia on April 20, 2021 in conjunction with its upcoming “Joints For Jabs” cannabis giveaway. In 2018, 2019, and 2021, aligned organizations MDMJ, VAMJ , COMJ, and NYMJ were formed to advocate for cannabis reform in Maryland, Virginia, Colorado, and New York. In 2021, DCMJ conceptualized and launched the “Joints for Jabs” coronavirus vaccination incentive program that was spontaneously adopted around the U.S., including by the State of Washington. DCMJ demands cannabis be removed from the Controlled Substances Act and all Americans are given the right to grow cannabis in the safety and privacy of their homes.

###

---

Click here to download a PDF of this Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACTS: Nikolas Schiller, 202-643-3878 Kris Furnish, 720-607-8369 Press@DCMJ.org

Thursday, November 17, 2022

WASHINGTON, DC – Pardoning turkeys before Thanksgiving has been an annual tradition at the White House since the Kennedy administration. This year DC Marijuana Justice (DCMJ), Maryland Marijuana Justice (MDMJ), Virginia Marijuana Justice (VAMJ), and New York Marijuana Justice (NYMJ) call on President Biden to show some grace for the 2,800 people serving time in federal prison for cannabis “crimes” and pardon cannabis inmates instead of pardoning turkeys.

“There are people serving life sentences for cannabis, and we want the President to honor his commitment to release everyone in prison for cannabis now,” says Adam Eidinger, co-founder of DCMJ and proposer of Initiative 71, which legalized cannabis in the District of Columbia in 2014. “These prisoners should be freed and allowed to come home for the holidays.”

Very few Americans are federally charged with “simple possession of cannabis” and none were serving time when the executive order was announced. “Just like the annual turkey pardon is ceremonial, so was President Biden’s recent marijuana pardon announcement in October,” said Kris Furnish, co-founder of MDMJ.  

“The turkeys that President Biden will pardon have names. So do the thousands of cannabis prisoners stuck in both federal and state jails.” says Nikolas Schiller, co-founder of DCMJ and founder of NYMJ. “We call on the President to go one step further and pardon Americans for all cannabis offenses such as distribution and cultivation. It’s these prisoners who need President Biden’s pardon the most,” concludes Schiller.

Cannabis reform advocates, including members from the Marijuana Justice Groups, Students for Sensible Drug Policy and the Last Prisoner Project, gathered outside the White House last month to call on President Biden to do more but the administration has done nothing further. Advocates believe that President Biden’s performative inaction is condemnable because the majority of Americans agree that cannabis should be federally legal, and people are serving unjustly long sentences for nonviolent cannabis “offenses”. 

“Pardoning turkeys instead of humans is offensive,” says RachelRamone Donlan, co-founder of VAMJ, who helped pass legalized cannabis in the Commonwealth. “There are thousands of human beings locked inside of cages, some serving life sentences for what is now legal, and it’s time for them to come home.”  

The power of pardoning has been used since George Washington, and was originally intended to right a wrong. It’s not a joke to those that desperately hope President Biden will keep his promises. 

“Although the American ceremony of pardoning turkeys is typically seen as a warm, lighthearted and well-loved, seasonal tradition, please remember families are missing their loved ones at the dinner table on Thanksgiving Day because they are incarcerated, as our president mocks a power that could ultimately unite these families,” said Eidinger. “There is nothing that we want more than to see President Biden keep his promises so that families can reunite and be together on Thanksgiving Day and everyday.”

Last year, at the annual turkey pardon, President Biden made the following remark concerning COVID, however, it rings true for bringing cannabis prisoners home.

“In all seriousness, it’s important to continue traditions like this to remind us how from the darkness, there’s light and hope and progress and – that’s what this year’s Thanksgiving, in my view, represents. So many of us will be gathering with our loved ones for the first time in a long time. And we’ll be reconnecting with traditions, with our tables and our hearts full of grace and gratitude for everyone who made it possible.” 

Unlike COVID, which we have very little power over, President Biden has full power to bring cannabis prisoners home.

###

---

Click here to download a PDF of this press release

Yesterday, Marijuana Moment wrote about how the White House touted Biden’s Marijuana Pardons Among ‘Top Accomplishments’ For Administration. That’s some tofurky malarky!

We decided to take the graphic that the White House published and do a little Photoshop to remind him there is still more work to be done! Notice that unchecked box above?