Drug War

#SmokeSessions

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Do not let Senator Sessions undo the work we've done!

Now for some good news: On Election Day nearly all of the cannabis-related ballot initiatives passed! (Sorry Arizona, you got outspent!) The number of Americans living in states with legal cannabis grew from roughly 17 million to over 67 million & counting. Before the election President Obama said “that is not gonna be tenable” for such a large number of Americans to live under one set of cannabis laws and others live under a different set laws. The time is ripe for Congress to pass legislation that will end the government’s harassment and arrests of peaceful cannabis users and their families!

Now for the bad news: Donald Trump has tapped one of the biggest prohibitionists in Congress to be the Attorney General of the United States: Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions. Earlier this year the Alabama Senator said “good people don’t smoke marijuana,” and while we don’t know yet if he’ll respect states rights (or DC’s rights since we are not a state) or if he’ll do what John Ashcroft did as George W. Bush’s Attorney General: raid lawful cannabis grows, raid lawful dispensaries, and even go so far as crack down on paraphernalia vendors. Let’s not forget why Tommy Chong went to jail and why history may repeat itself if we don’t act NOW!

We can’t idly sit by and watch all the hard work we’ve done to legalize cannabis in DC be eroded by an out of touch prohibitionist!

We are calling for a series of demonstrations against Jeff Sessions between NOW and January 20, 2017.

JOIN US FOR THE #SMOKESESSIONS

Our first #SmokeSessions will be at his Congressional Office ( 326 Russell Senate Office Building ) Monday, November 28, at HIGH NOON!

—ROLL CALL: Pot Advocates Protest Jeff Sessions’ AG Nomination
— US NEWS & WORLD REPORT: Pot Activists Get Jeff Sessions Staff Meeting After Insinuating They Would Stage Office Smoke-in

— VIDEO:

Join us Thursday, December 8 for #ShowSessions

Our second #SmokeSessions was called #ShowSessions and took place at High Noon on Thursday, December 8.

US NEWS & WORLD REPORT: Activists Roll Joint, Offer Free Pot at Jeff Sessions Office as Threats Swirl to Legalization Framework
WASHINGTON TIMES: Legal weed advocates sneak marijuana into Jeff Sessions’ Senate office

#ShowSessions on Capitol Hill, Dec 08 2016 from Mike Flugennock

Our third #SmokeSessions will be at 8AM, Tuesday, January 3, 2017 outside Union Station. We’ll greet Senate staffers, interns, and members of Congress on their way to their first day in the 115th Congress. At 9:30am we’ll visit Senate offices and drop off suggested questions for Sessions’ confirmation hearing. Click here to RSVP on Facebook!

Our fourth #SmokeSessions will be at the Senate Judiciary Confirmation Hearing for Senator Sessions on Tuesday, January 10 and Wednesday, January 11. DCMJ is seeking volunteers to line sit outside the hearing room. Please fill out this Google Doc if you can help! You can also RSVP on Facebook for SmokeSessions #4 (aka HearSessions), but please note, an RSVP on Facebook does not get you inside the hearing room. The number of seats we get inside the hearing room is contingent on the number of line sitters who volunteer!

Our fifth #SmokeSessions will be at the Inauguration on January 20, 2017.

• We demand the President-Elect Trump make a clear and unequivocal statement that he supports the full-legalization of cannabis in every State. And to urge the 115th Congress to pass legislation that removes cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act within the first 100 days.

• Second, we demand Senator Sessions evolve on his position that cannabis users are not only good people, but they deserve the same treatment under the law as alcohol users, prescription drug users, and non-users.

• Third, we demand Senator Sessions allow the various States and the District of Columbia the authority to make their own laws concerning cannabis without Federal government intervention.

• Fourth, we demand Senator Sessions investigate the racial disparities of federal minimum sentencing guidelines and the associated costs to the American taxpayers for maintaining the largest prison system in the world.

Our demands call for a respect for personal liberty, States rights, and good governance.

Please help us out and spread the word by using the hashtag #SmokeSessions and inviting your friends to the upcoming demonstrations!

Photos & Video of Catharsis on the Mall

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A big thank you goes out to all the volunteers who helped make Catharsis on the Mall: A Vigil for Healing the Drug War a HUGE success. To pay for this free event, we are still trying to hit our goal of $4,000, so please donate a little green! We hope to organize this type vigil again and have created a Facebook Page to help get the word out. Donations are used entirely to offset costs of building materials, permits, and rentals.

The Temple of Essence was open to the public for 24 hours allowing people to write on the walls inside messages about the drug war.
Michael Verdon’s Temple of Essence was open to the public for 24 hours allowing people to write on the walls inside messages about the drug war.(Photo by Kenny Reff)

Photo by Cherry Savoy
More than 1000 people attended a midnight burning of artist Michael Verdon’s Temple of Essence on the national Mall on November 21, 2015. Contained inside the temple were all copies of petitions signed by 56,000 people that put Initiative 71 on the ballot to legalize marijuana. (Photo by Cherry Savoy)

Once burning Verdon's temple transformed by fire into a rendition of a jail cell. Only when the lotus shaped temple burned down could one see the bars of the cell which eventually collapsed to the cheers of all in attendance.
Once burning Verdon’s temple transformed by fire into a rendition of a jail cell. Only when the lotus shaped temple burned down could one see the bars of the cell which eventually collapsed to the cheers of all in attendance. (Photo by Kenny Reff)

Check out some more photos from Catharsis: DCist, Kenny Reff, Ben Droz, Matt Eclair, William Tanksley, and many more on the Facebook Event Page.