Parties, smoke-outs and deals: Pot enthusiasts observe 4/20

SEATTLE — From Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., to Hippie Hill in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, marijuana enthusiasts observed their 4/20 holiday Thursday with public smoke-outs, parties and, yes, great deals on weed.

The annual celebration of cannabis culture was providing activists an opportunity to reflflect on how far they’ve come — recreational use of marijuana is now legal in eight states and the nation’s capital — and on the national political tone, with Trump administration offifficials reprising talking points from the heyday of the war on drugs.

“We’re looking at an attorney general who wants to bring America back into the 1980s in terms of drug policy,” said Vivian McPeak, a founder of Hempfest in Seattle. “I’m skeptical they can put the cannabis genie back into the bottle.”

President Donald Trump hasn’t c l ar i f i ed what hi s approach to marijuana will be, but Attorney General Jeffff Sessions opposes the drug’s legalization and this month ordered a review of the government’s marijuana policy, which has included a largely hands-offff approach in legal marijuana states.

Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly recently called marijuana “a potentially dangerous gateway drug that frequently leads to the use of harder drugs” — a view long held by drug warriors despite scant evidence of its validity.

Thi s ye a r ’s 4/2 0 par t y follows successful legalization campaigns in California, Nevada, Maine and Mas- sachusetts, which joined Alaska, Colorado, Oregon and Washington as states that allow recreational marijuana. More than half of all states now allow medical marijuana.

Legalization opponents weren’t going quietly.

S ma r t A p p r o a c h e s t o Marijuana said drug policy experts and elected leaders convened in Atlanta for a summit featuring Barry McCaffffrey, the former drug czar under President Bill Clinton, and Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey.

“Smart drug policy starts with science and research, n o t i d e o l o g y o r p r o f i t , ” McCaffrey said in a news release from the organization.

Sixty percent of adults support legalizing marijuana, according to a Gallup poll last fall.