Rae Bronze / PhillyNORML
At 4:20 p.m. on April 20 a cloud ascended on Independence Mall. (Philly420 Columnist Chris Goldstein in red ball cap at right)
Story Highlights
- More than 750,000 Americans are arrested each year for simply possessing a small amount of cannabis.
- The crowd swelled to almost 400 people as the clock counted down.
- At the stroke of 4:20 everyone cheered and instantly puffs of smoke appeared above the crowd.
The sun was shining at Independence Mall at 4:20 p.m. on Saturday 4/20 as hundreds of cannabis consumers lit joints to protest marijuana prohibition.
Local cannabis advocacy group PhillyNORML and comedy crew The Panic Hour have been growing the monthly public demonstrations (and sweet smelling cloud) in front of the Liberty Bell since December 2012. But this time Philadelphia joined hundreds of similar events around the world showing that 420 (once a stoner code-word) has officially gone mainstream.
More than 750,000 Americans are arrested each year for simply possessing a small amount of cannabis – about 20,000 each from Pennsylvania and New Jersey. This is more arrests more than for other drugs combined and all violent crimes.
While the atmosphere was one of celebration – there was a strong, core message. Some of the speakers hit on those points:
- Vanessa Waltz, cancer survivor and board member of the Coalition for Medical Marijuana New Jersey: “If you truly believe in freedom, don’t just come out of the marijuana closet, run out screaming and bring your friends along for the ride! Let your voice be heard! And don’t stop until we are all free. You might be surprised at how many people will listen to you. For the first time in our lives, the majority of Americans want marijuana legalized. According to the latest polls, 52 percent of Americans support legalization.”
- Libertarian blogger and TV host Adam Kokesh: “This gross violation of your rights as a human being we call the ‘drug war’ is about to be over!”
- Ed “NJWeedman” Forchion: “Would your mothers, your bothers, your sisters, your cousins send someone to jail for a marijuana charge? [crowd says “NO”] You know the whole jury nullification thing isn’t new it’s been around for a long time…I mean we’re in Pennsylvania, named after William Penn. William Penn became famous, in fact, for taking a case to trial in England arguing that the law was wrong…not him.”
Speakers also included
Les Stark from Pennsylvania Hempland Security,
Mike Whiter from PA Veterans for Medical Marijuana,
Ojay from the Philly HipHop Collective,
Vanessa Maria Graber from Really Rad Radio, yours truly from Philly420 along with emcees Ellie Paisley, NA Poe and Steve Miller-Miller from The Panic Hour.
The crowd swelled to almost 400 people as the clock counted down. Many heldsigns calling for legalization.
Others in the group held aloft their pre-rolled joints and blunts (it is Philly; so blunts are kind of a necessity).
At the stroke of 4:20 everyone cheered, the Philly HipHop Collective spun up some beats and instantly puffs of smoke began to appear above the crowd. These grew and coalesced into a roiling cloud of exhaled marijuana that was harmlessly carried across the lawn to from Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell past Ben Franklin’s resting place then over to the Constitution Center.
Although there are more than 3,000 marijuana possession arrests in Philadelphia last year there were no arrests or citations at the rally. There was no (visible) presence of the city police and National Park Service rangers kept a distance, tolerating the protest activity.
PhillyNORML is planning their annual South Street Cannabis March on May 11th and back with The Panic Hour at the Liberty Bell on May 25th for “Smoke Down Prohibition V.”
Philly’s Hemp History
Before modern cannabis prohibition, Pennsylvania was a key producer of industrial hemp for almost 300 years.
Thomas Jefferson and George Washington were avid pipe smokers who exchanged recipes for herbal blends. Both men were also meticulous farmers who grew hemp for fiber. And both also specifically cultivated small patches of “India Hemp” (not to be confused with Indian hemp) that is actually cannabis sativa, a plant always grown only for effect, not fiber. There are some tantalizing clues but no definitive proof that the founders puffed ganja. Still, Jefferson and Washington spent a fair amount of time smoking their pipes (whatever was in them) all around town.
It was 1972 when a former PA governor, Raymond Shafer (a staunch Republican) tried to convince President Richard Nixon to completely end the criminal prohibition of marijuana by the federal government.
Shafer was a constitutional scholar who led a commission of legislators and experts studying whether cannabis belonged in the Controlled Substances Act. Their conclusion was that pot did not belong in the CSA and that Americans should be able to use it for medication, recreation and spiritual enlightenment. Pennsylvania’s currently active legislation to create a state medical marijuana program (HB1181/SB770) is named in Shafer’s honor.
The monthly “Smoke Down Prohibition” protests at Independence Mall take place on an area designated as “The People’s Plaza” by the National Park Service. A granite monument there is engraved with the text of the First Amendment …which, in case you haven’t seen it in a while reads:
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
The growing national support in polls, legislative action at the state and federal level along with increasing visible public protests are the tangible result of these lofty ideas applied to legalizing marijuana and hemp.
Illegal since 1937, it is long past the time to change this policy. At last, in 2013 we are starting to see the inertia clearly shift from defending cannabis prohibition to ending it.
Contact Chris Goldstein at chris@freedomisgreen.com
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