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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.
“4/20 Theater” Takes to the Street to Highlight the Lack of Progress on Cannabis Legalization
New Play Calls Out President Biden and Congress For Their Continued Inaction
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.