Smoke-in

Yippie van makes a few passes by the July 4th Smoke-In, Lafayette Park, Washington, D.C., 1977.
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A smoke-in is a protest in favor of cannabis rights or more specifically legalization of cannabis.[1]

The Youth International Party (YIP) organized "smoke-ins" across North America through the 1970s and into the 1980s. The first YIP smoke-in was attended by 25,000 in Washington, D.C., on July 4, 1970.[2][3] There was a culture clash when many of the hippie protesters strolled en masse into the nearby "Honor America Day" festivities with Billy Graham and Bob Hope.[4]

On August 7, 1971, a Yippie smoke-in in Vancouver was attacked by police, resulting in the Gastown Riot, one of the most famous protests in Canadian history.[5]

The annual July 4 Yippie smoke-in in Washington, D.C., became a counterculture tradition.[6][7][8][9] Other smoke-ins as protests for cannabis law reform have been held in the 1960s in London;[10] and through the 1990s at least at the U.S. Capitol,[11] and in and around Austin, Texas.[12][13]

Poster advertising Yippie-sponsored Pittsburgh Smoke-In, Schenley Park, July 2, 1977
  1. ^ "smoke-in", Merriam-Webster Dictionary online, retrieved March 29, 2022
  2. ^ Viola, Saira. "Dana Beal Interview". International Times. Archived from the original on August 31, 2017. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  3. ^ New Yippie Book Collective 1983.
  4. ^ A. Yippie. "A Brief History of the NYC Cannabis Parade". CannabisParade.org. Archived from the original on October 10, 2017. Retrieved October 9, 2017.
  5. ^ Odam, Jes, "Police charge yippie plot," Vancouver Sun, 1 October 1971
  6. ^ DeAngelo 2015.
  7. ^ Mark Andersen, Mark Jenkins (August 2003). Dance of Days: Two Decades of Punk in the Nation's Capital. Brooklyn, NY, USA: Akashic Books. ISBN 978-1888451443. Archived from the original on March 5, 2022. Retrieved October 16, 2020.
  8. ^ Martin Weil, Keith B. Richberg (5 July 1978). "Demonstration By Yippies Is Mostly Quiet". Washington Post. Archived from the original on December 15, 2017. Retrieved December 15, 2017.
  9. ^ Harris, Art (4 July 1979). "Yippies Turn On". Washington Post. Archived from the original on December 16, 2017. Retrieved December 15, 2017.
  10. ^ DANA ADAMS SCHMIDT (July 17, 1967). "BRITISH 'SMOKE-IN' PUFFS MARIJUANA: 'Flower People' in Hyde Park Chant Case for Legality". The New York Times. p. 9.
  11. ^ "Marijuana supporters hold smoke-in protest". Kitchener - Waterloo Record. Kitchener, Ontario. July 16, 1992.
  12. ^ "Marijuana 'smoke-in' may be smoke screen", Austin American Statesman, p. B2, May 23, 1990
  13. ^ MacCormack, John (July 2, 1993). "Marijuana-law protest sprouts outside Hays jail". San Antonio Express-News. San Antonio, Texas. p. 10D. [He] was among seven local residents who staged dope smoke-ins at local police stations in 1991 to protest the criminalization of marijuana.