The Return of the Smoke-In
Two blocks away from the United Nations in midtown Manhattan, New York. The steps of the Tarrant County Courthouse in Fort Worth, Texas. The sidewalk in front of the White House in Washington, DC.
These are just a few of the places I have smoked marijuana openly and publicly in broad daylight in full view of police this year. (This writer is a middle-aged white guy with a cop haircut in a business suit. Your mileage may vary.)
The New York City event was the celebration of April 20th. I was there for the United Nation’s first global discussion on drug policy since they last met in 1998 and decided their goal was (no joke) “A Drug-Free World – We Can Do It!”
The UN event was held April 19th – 21st, so the cannabis activists attending made our way down two blocks to Dag Hammerskjold Plaza (named after a former UN Secretary General) and made our speeches on 4/20 at 4:20pm while smoking big fat dooberinos.
New York State has decriminalized marijuana, but it is still illegal to display it publicly. Smoking it is certainly reason for cops to slap on cuffs and take you for an unpleasant ride to a more unpleasant place.
But the cops who could certainly see and smell this disobedience did nothing to stop it.
In Texas there is no decriminalization. Just looking like you might be fond of someone who thinks about smoking weed is a crime (citation needed). That event was the Global Marijuana March on May 7th with DFW NORML. There were plenty of police there as well, guiding us down the streets of Fort Worth as we openly smoked marijuana.
We gathered on the steps on the courthouse and had our speeches of protest. We also openly and voraciously smoked big ol’ Chongers. That’s still quite illegal in Texas, where the unpleasantness of cop cars and jails has a special mesquite flavor to it.
But the cops who could certainly see and smell this disobedience did nothing to stop it.
At the White House, there had been an armed man shot by Secret Service earlier in the day. It was May 20th – Harry J. Anslinger’s birthday – and the crew of DCMJ had planned a die-in representing the 22 (or more) veterans who commit suicide daily in America.
But Pennsylvania Avenue and Lafayette Park were roped off with police tape. The Secret Service were out in force, body armor on and automatic weapons ready. You could make out the snipers positioned on the White House roof.
We had moved out to H Street. In Washington DC, possession of marijuana is legal, but it is against the law to smoke it in public. However, on federal land which makes up about 60 percent of Washington DC, possession is a misdemeanor with fines and jail time. In the span of two blocks, you go from illegal (White House) to legal (Pennsylvania Ave) to illegal (Lafayette Park) to legal (H Street).
There we gathered to have our time on the soapbox to give speeches. As we spoke, we smoked. I was sharing a j-bomb with Chris Goldstein, who just recently got off two-years federal probation for smoking a joint at the Liberty Bell in protest. What a difference a couple of years make.
But the cops who could certainly see and smell this disobedience did nothing to stop it.
So, it led me to this radical thought – how about we extend this tolerance toward public pot smoking just a little bit? As DFW NORML’s Shaun McAlister said to the Fort Worth Police, “Why does this have to be tolerated only one day out of the year?”
It’s great that we’re having this renaissance of smoke-ins. Some of my best friends in the movement question the political effectiveness of such pot-smoking demonstrations. Indeed, I don’t think President Obama looks out his bedroom window, sees a bunch of pot smokers waving an inflatable 51-foot joint, and says, “You know, Michelle, look, I think it’s time I deschedule cannabis.”
The point of the little boy yelling that the Emperor wears no clothes wasn’t to convince the Emperor to get dressed. It was to awaken the rest of the public too afraid to shame the naked Emperor. That’s what the smoke-in protest does; it awakens the protesters and the public watching them to the fact that public pot smoking happened and it’s no big deal.
When you see the smiles of the harassed and oppressed pot smokers waving at cops while smoking a joint in the streets of Cowtown, Texas, you see that spark of liberation that burns in the heart of every true activist. That’s who the smoke-in is for.
(Maybe activists fighting for public spaces to smoke marijuana indoors in Oregon, Washington, and Colorado ought to take the pot smoking to the streets. “Cannabis Café, or Outside We Stay!” C’mon, you can’t have Fort Worth shaming us for fear of smoking a joint in public.)
