Pubdate: Tue, 26 Apr 2016
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Copyright: 2016 The Washington Post Company
Contact:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/491
Author: Aaron C. Davis

D.C. 'BUD SUMMIT' A BIT OF A BUZZ KILL

Marijuana Advocates Had Hoped to Speak With Obama, Got Staffers

It took a pot-smoking protest outside the White House, but on Monday, 
advocates for marijuana legalization were set for a historic 
face-to-face meeting with the Obama administration about easing laws 
governing the drug. Except, it wasn't. Leaders of the ballot-measure 
fight that legalized marijuana in the nation's capital said they were 
granted a White House meeting, but it was with two junior-level 
staffers in President Obama's Office of National Drug Control Policy.

There was no presidential entourage, no promises of more meetings to 
come. In fact, there was no visit to the White House proper, but a 
mostly empty conference room in an adjacent building.

"They didn't say a lot; they took notes, maybe four pages' worth," 
said Adam Eidinger, the face of the D.C. marijuana movement, who 
dressed up for the visit in a black suit with a black-and-green 
marijuana leaf tie. "We asked questions, but they didn't answer. . . 
. They nodded a lot. I think they understood us."

Obama said in January that reforming marijuana laws is not on his 
agenda in his final year in office.

But activists' hopes have been raised by a combination of factors: 
Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont has made legalizing pot a plank of his 
surprisingly successful run for the Democratic presidential 
nomination. Meanwhile, a petition by Democratic governors has led the 
Drug Enforcement Administration to say it will decide by July whether 
to remove marijuana from the nation's list of most dangerous drugs.

Eidinger and other activists said they hoped Monday's meeting might 
begin a conversation about marijuana reform that could provide cover 
to likely Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton to continue 
work should she win the election in November.

Eidinger also tried to guilt and embarrass Obama into action. Fliers 
announcing the mass potsmoking event outside the White House said the 
event was held not on April 20, the typical national day of action 
over marijuana policy, but earlier because of the president.

"Due to popular demand, we're rescheduling 4/20 this year to 4/2 
because Obama's been a BIG ZERO on cannabis reform," said the fliers.

In Eidinger's last letter to Obama administration, he also offered to 
call off the spectacle if the president agreed to sit down or "bud 
summit" with marijuana advocates.

"As a former cannabis (and current?) user, you know firsthand that 
cannabis does not belong in the Controlled Substances Act," Eidinger wrote.

But on Monday, both sides characterized the meeting as no more than a 
perfunctory listening session- and partly for good reason.

Since the meeting was with the Office of National Drug Control 
Policy, the administration officials present are not able to advocate 
for reclassifying marijuana thanks to funding restrictions imposed by Congress.

In a statement, a spokesman for the office played down Monday's meeting:

"Over the years, the Office of National Drug Control Policy has met 
with numerous organizations representing varied perspectives on drug 
policy. As laid out in the National Drug Control Strategy, the 
Administration's drug policy continues to focus on a balanced public 
health and public safety approach to reduce drug use and its consequences."

Thirty minutes after the meeting began, Eidinger and Nikolas 
Schiller, co-founder of DC Marijuana Justice, were done and outside 
the White House. They held a banner that read "President Obama, We 
need a higher level meeting."

Now what? "I'm going to write more letters," Eidinger said.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom