It’s 20 past 4. The sun burns hot over London’s Hyde Park. The only cloud in sight slowly rises from the crowd that fills the green with laughter, music and smiling faces. Every year, thousands of people gather in the capital for a peaceful demonstration for the decriminalisation of marijuana. It’s 420, or April 20th, the international stoner holiday.
Walking into Hyde Park on April 20th feels different than usual. Just minutes walk the Extinction Rebellion protesters the whole Park turns into a festival like experience. Every look brings a new sight, every step brings a new song and every breeze carries an intense smell of pot. But rarely do you see such a big crowd so peaceful and happy.
Equipped with a boom box Rualle Lefair dances his way through the grass. A woman swings a hula-hoop around her neck to his beats. “That’s the spirit,” he laughs. He takes a hit. “We started a revolution” he smiles as he exhales the smoke, “this is love man”.
The 33-year old from East London has been coming to Hyde Park for years but is surprised by the size of the crowd this year. “I’ve never seen this many people man. Back a few years ago, we were only a handful, now look at this.” Rualle points at the crowds, more storming in with every minute.
In between a group of young girls in crop tops and some pensioners in camping chairs, Samantha, Sam Pilgrim rams a pole in the ground and hisses her flag. The 46 year old is campaigning for the community group We the Undersigned, a group that calls for the legalisation of the herb.
The mother of two became an active campaigner, after a doctor recommended weed as an alternative treatment for her daughters’ regular seizures, caused by epilepsy. “It did what no other medication could do. It allowed me sleep,” she says with a smile, “and I don’t even smoke.”
Sam started making what she calls “mama brownies” for her 16-year old daughter. After it worked on her, the plant helped Pilgrim herself, with anxiety and depression. She says: “We’re not advocating that drugs are good, or that it’s a free for all, or that all drugs should be legal, no. What we’re saying is that some drugs are safer than others and that should be reflected in the law.”
The term 420 originated in the US in the 1970’s, where a group of students would meet up every day at 20 past 4 to smoke pot. This turned into an international code for smoking weed and has turned into peaceful demonstration. While still criminalised in the UK, some western countries have started to legalise the drug for medical purposes.
