Visitors coming into town for the inauguration may be greeted with an offer for a free joint.

If they take it, they can legally possess the weed in D.C., though they can’t legally light up in public.

A pro-cannabis group is using the high profile day to raise awareness about the important developments in the battle for legalization by handing out 4200 joints full of legal pot.

via KCEN-TV 6:

You might catch a strong smell of marijuana on Inauguration Day. That’s because there will be thousands of joints handed out—for free—by the DC Cannabis Coalition.

[…]

“The main message is it’s time to legalize cannabis at the federal level,” said Adam Eidinger, the founder of DCMJ, a group of D.C. residents who introduced and helped get initiative 71 passed in the District.

[…]

“We are going to tell them that if they smoke on federal property, they are risking arrest. But, that’s a form of civil disobedience,” said Eidinger. “I think it’s 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.”

The group is not an anti-Trump group, but they have publicized their concerns about the attitude of the new administration, given that the foremost legal figure in the country will be former Senator Jeff Sessions, if he is confirmed.

Session’s strong fight against marijuana legalization may speak volumes about the uphill battles that are likely to face efforts to end the drug war.

Eidinger is worried, though, that all this progress will be lost with the Trump Administration, specifically, with Trump’s pick for attorney general: Jeff Sessions.

“We are looking at a guy who as recently as April said that they are going to enforce federal law on marijuana all over the country. He said marijuana is dangerous,” Eidinger said.

7 states have now legalized some form of recreational marijuana, while 28 states have recognized legal status for the medicinal use of .

President-elect Trump has stated that he believes: “In terms of marijuana and legalization, I think that should be a state issue, state-by-state.” But he has also wavered in his position, and it could shift depending upon the advice he gets while in office.

More recently, the DEA moved to reclassify CBD oil, the non-psychoactive cannabis oil that has been used to treat epilepsy and block tumor growth, as a schedule 1 drug, classified next to heroin as having no medicinal value.

According to Claire Bernish:

After the DEA moved to further constrain Americans’ access to medically miraculous CBD oil by classifying it alongside heroin and cocaine, Britain chose compassion and common sense — and just classified cannabidiol (CBD) as a medicine.

On Monday, Britain’s Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) decided CBD — which can treat illnesses and conditions from severe childhood epilepsy to autism to cancer — warranted the classification as a medicine based on credible evidence of its efficacy.

Thus, unlike in the U.S. — where the substance is now considered devoid of medical benefit by the DEA — CBD meeting quality and regulatory standards may be legally obtained by any British citizens who need it, reports High Times.

Though this determination is absurd and goes against common sense and scientific understanding about its value, it makes perfect sense in light of the big moneyed interests in the pharmaceutical and medical industries who are intent on protecting their patented synthetic drugs and propagandizing their use in health care treatment.

The prospect of a simple but highly effective remedy is not a welcome development for affordable medicine, it is an assault on profit.

Who benefits from such a criminalization of cannabis, in either recreational or medicinal form?

Check the donors, and see what happens over the course of the next administration.

Read more:

Washington Pleads the 10th: “Under State Law, You May Responsibly Get Baked”

Backdoor Disarmament: “Banning Sale of Firearms To Medical Marijuana Card Holders”

Regulated out of Existence: Off-Gridders Forced back on the Grid, Camping on own land Illegal

Justice in America: 8 Years for Stealing Cheese, 35 Years for Marijuana Possession