Cannabis was illegally smoked by tens of thousands of people in Hyde Park as police watched and strolled between them without making arrests on Saturday 20th April.
At 4.20pm on the 20th of April, the fourth month of the calendar year, thousands of members of the public simultaneously smoked the substance, which is a ‘Class B’ illegal drug, as part of a celebration-come-protest.
The event is known as ‘420’ in the cannabis-smoking community, a name which is thought to originate from the codename used by a group of friends who would meet at 4.20pm to smoke and search for a patch of cannabis they had been informed was in nearby woods.
Police chose not to arrest those involved for possession of the drug, with one officer telling us: “It’s a numbers situation.
“We can’t arrest everyone because there are far too many people for us to arrest.
“It is illegal and an event that we don’t support but at the end of the day we can’t arrest everyone because we don’t have the resources.”
An evidence gatherer for the Met Police, Phil, told us he had had a quiet day.
“At the moment what I am going to film, a whole load of people sitting down?” he said. “What evidential need is there?”
The event was peaceful, with the only violence coming in the form of an organised boxing match.
Other sports, like football and volleyball, were being played in the park by intoxicated and friendly members of the public, who even encouraged our reporter to join a game of volleyball.
“It’s a plant, like cucumbers and tomatoes,” said one attendee. “Cannabis is saving people’s lives. Free the weed.”
The phrase ‘free the weed’ was one of the most common phrases attendees told us.
Attendees are not alone in their opinion that cannabis should be legalised, according to a poll run by YouGov.
Of those asked, 45% said that they thought cannabis should be legal, in contrast to the 44% who said it should be illegal and 11% who said that they didn’t know.
One woman, who had been attending the event since the 1970s, explained: “As an ex-cancer sufferer, I was put on morphine but I’ve managed to come off it all and now manage my pain with weed.”
We met someone in a teddy-bear costume, a woman with one dog called ‘smokey’ and another called ‘snoop’ [dog], a man wearing a plush panda head, two separate people who free-style rapped at us, and even spotted some very young children running through the crowds.
One attendee in a sushi-themed bucket hat, sunglasses, and long purple trench coat told us: “I don’t think cannabis is God’s own nectar but I also don’t think it’s the evil devil’s lettuce that people make it out to be.”
Another individual told us that they enjoy smoking cannabis but think that, like all things, it should be enjoyed in moderation because people do become addicted to the drug.
Featured image credit: Ben Mulley
