The White House “Bud Summit” Was a Total Bust

After an April smoke-in at the White House, the Obama administration invited Washington, DC marijuana legalization advocates in for a meeting that shocked even those invited. The “bud summit,” as it was called, would have been a historic signal of the federal government’s interest in marijuana policy reform, as well as their new penchant for catchy weed lingo.

Instead, it was a total buzzkill.

Yesterday, the man behind DCMJ and the campaign to legalize marijuana in Washington, DC—Adam Eidinger—revealed the disappointing reality of the meeting to The Washington Post. Rather than be courted by high-level officials at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., he and his cohorts did not step foot into the White House, but met with a couple “junior-level [Office of National Drug Control] staffers” in a sad conference room in an adjacent building.

“They didn’t say a lot; they took notes, maybe four pages’ worth,” Eidinger, who Wapo noted dressed up a black suit with a marijuana leaf tie for the meeting, said, “We asked questions, but they didn’t answer… They nodded a lot. I think they understood us.”

It’s a step in the right direction, at least.