Marijuana advocates to give away free joints on Capitol Hill

Pot advocates will hand out free joints next week on Capitol Hill. 

The first congressional “joint session,” as they call it, is scheduled for April 20, better known as “4/20” in the marijuana community.

The group known as DCMJ plans to hand out more than 1,000 free marijuana joints to lawmakers, staff, journalists and anyone else over the age of 21 who displays a congressional ID. Congress is in recess next week. 

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The pot advocates say they hope to lift the “special-interest smokescreen” in Congress.

“Americans don’t want a crackdown on legal cannabis — they want Congress to end cannabis prohibition once and for all,” DCMJ co-founder Adam Eidinger said. “Giving adults access to cannabis and individuals and small-business owners legal protection in all 50 states is what the American people have been asking for — just take one look at last year’s election.”

DCMJ is pushing for a budget amendment that blocks the Justice Department from interfering with states that have legalized medical marijuana.

California Reps. Dana Rohrabacher (R) and Sam Farr (D) have sponsored this spending measure in previous budgets passed by Congress, but it expires on April 28 and must be renewed each year.

The marijuana advocates will also call on Congress to lift the federal ban on pot. Marijuana is still illegal at the federal level but has been legalized to varying degrees in several states and Washington, D.C. 

The joint giveaway will take place near the Capitol building, but off federal grounds, at First Street NE and Constitution Avenue NE.

The same group staged a protest against President Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Inauguration Day, passing out 4,200 joints during Trump’s speech.