Participants in the annual Global Marijuana March — a.k.a. the Million Marijuana March or Global Cannabis March — took to the streets in hundreds of cities across the world on Saturday, May 7. The first Global Marijuana March was organized in 1999, and it has since become a fundamental event in the international effort to legalize and regulate cannabis.
According to an RT report, protesters in 829 cities in 72 countries marched on Saturday to raise awareness about drug policy issues and to pressure their governments to undo the gross overstepping of power that is the Drug War.
Citizens in Medellín and Bogota, Colombia — where marijuana laws are significantly more relaxed than most other countries — marched with particularly eye-catching flair. Protesters proudly displayed massive smoking apparatuses constructed with over-sized, hand-crafted joints that had been stuffed into various fruits, including apples, pineapples, watermelons and pears.
International cannabis reform has grown increasingly more popular on the global stage. In North America, medical cannabis is legal in Canada and the federal government has announced plans for full legalization in 2017. Mexico also announced plans to decriminalize possessing up to an ounce, and will develop a national medical marijuana program to be unveiled sometime next year. Nearly half of all U.S. states have now passed some form of medical marijuana legislation, and four states plus Washington D.C. have legalized its recreational use.
Germany recently revealed plans for a government-run medical marijuana program, and all illegal drugs have been decriminalized in Portugal.
Cannabis has been fully legalized in Uruguay.