Organizers of the first annual National Cannabis Festival in Washington, D.C. Saturday are banning weed from their rally in an effort to show Congress the cannabis community is responsible.
Weed will be strongly discouraged at the event. Attendees are told to refrain from bringing or using marijuana at the event out of respect for the city’s current law restricting use to private dwellings. Organizers feel this will demonstrate to Congress the community is responsible, and will help create a dialogue with lawmakers.
“National Cannabis Festival complies with DC law which prohibits the sale of cannabis or cannabis-containing products,” a note on the ticket purchasing page says. “DC law also prohibits public consumption of cannabis.”
The festival will bring together small businesses, advocacy groups and community members to emphasize several issues ranging from further liberalization of D.C. marijuana laws to the push for D.C. statehood.
“This event is not about cannabis use per say,” Caroline Phillips, the festival’s organizer told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “That’s obviously one of the topics of heavy discussion, but this event is looking at these challenges and bringing the community together so we can talk about them and pool our resources to come up with strategies and plans to move legislation forward.”
The all-day festival will be on RFK Stadium’s festival grounds, intentionally close in proximity to the Capitol Building in a symbolic statement to the House of Representatives, which ultimately governs D.C. policy.
The event is headlined by hip-hop group De La Soul, and will feature other performers throughout the day. Local advocacy groups and vendors will distribute informational material, and an education pavilion will serve as a center of discussion on marijuana legalization and District autonomy. (RELATED: Mayor Plans Big Fight With Congress Over DC Statehood)
“It’s great for us to be able to take a stand with the community, especially during times of uncertainty around legislation to let people know that our cannabis community is strong, our cannabis community is responsible, our cannabis community is engaged, and we’re not going anywhere until Congress has heard us out,” Phillips told TheDCNF.
D.C. passed a ballot measure last year legalizing up to two ounces of marijuana for personal home consumption, however Congress swiftly moved to prevent further expansion of the law, using a budget measure to bar the D.C. Council from taxing or regulating the substance.
The D.C. Council voted Tuesday to permanently ban private pot clubs in the city, citing potential legal uncertainty without regulatory authority. Advocates for legal autonomy in D.C. view the current battle over marijuana as a key fight, although they do not necessarily use the substance themselves. (RELATED: DC Council Folds To Congress, Approves Permanent Ban On Pot Clubs)
“D.C. voting autonomy is one of the issues we will be looking at,” Phillips told TheDCNF. “We believe that D.C. offers a great blueprint for other metropolitan areas on how cannabis can impact community policing and how it can impact arrest rates in the city.”
The battle in D.C. over legalization has the potential to play into racial tensions. Despite comparable usage statistics across races, black residents accounted for 91 percent of marijuana possession arrests in 2013. Since the D.C. Council enacted partial legalization, possession arrests decreased in the District 98 percent and overall arrests on any marijuana related charge are down 85 percent. (RELATED: DC’s Legalized Weed Is One-Year Old, And Crime Has Cratered)
Organizers understand many attendees will be disappointed and frustrated with the ban on marijuana use on the festival grounds, but stressed putting the needs of the community first, by focusing on responsible policy.
“We need to come together this year,” Phillips said. “We need to come together while we are in the middle of this legislative fight and we need to show congress that we can do this as a community and that they need to get together, look at the law and listen to voters.”
Phillips admits they cannot control what attendees decide to do, but hope festival goers respect the current law. While Tuesday’s vote has in effect ended the conversation over further liberalization of D.C. marijuana law for the time being, Council President Phil Mendelson did say the issue would be revisited.
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