DC Mayor Says Arresting Pot Smokers At Inauguration Won’t Be A Priority

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If you’re hoping to grab one of 4,200 free joints that will be passed out by a pro-marijuana legalization group on Inauguration Day, The Man probably won’t be focused on hassling you for smoking up, Washington D.C.’s mayor says.

Mayor Muriel Bowser addressed reporters about how the city is preparing for the Jan. 20 event, stressing that police and the District’s leaders will be focused on making sure people are free to exercise their First Amendment rights, DCist reports.

Those planning to light up as part of advocacy group DCMJ’s push for federally legal pot won’t be targeted, Bowser said, noting that arresting pot smokers “wouldn’t be a priority” for police.

It’s legal to own and/or grow small amounts of marijuana for personal use in D.C., or to give it away, but the law doesn’t allow people to sell it or consume it in public. DCMJ’s founder Adam Eidinger said earlier this week that the plan to spark a few thousand doobies at the 4:20 mark of Donald Trump’s inauguration address is a “good protest.”

“If someone wants to do it, they are risking arrest, but it’s a protest and you know what, the National Mall is a place for protest,” he said at the time.

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