Around 250,000 people attended Seattle’s annual Hempfest this weekend, and when new smokers got the munchies, the police were there to hand them Doritos. With the legalization of marijuana in Washington, the police decided to get creative with the message they wanted to send to the public.
Alright, @seattlehempfest, thx for the wonderful morning. We're headed home. Feelin' kinda Spacey pic.twitter.com/VpXcJxtTVN
— Seattle Police Dept. (@SeattlePD) August 17, 2013
The Seattle Police Department added a sticker to each bag of Doritos with the “Do’s” and “Don’ts” of getting high under the new law, writes the Seattle Times. Then they updated their Twitter feed for the rest of the weekend, with comments like “Dorito line forms tomorrow AM @ the Hempfest main gate.”
Some Twitter users seemed irked by the police:
Is incredibly disappointed to see such childish behavior promoted by the @SeattlePD. I intend to come back to TN asap where its #safe.
— Brandon Himes (@Brandon_Himes) August 17, 2013
But most seemed to appreciate the free snacks.
RT: Seattle police hand out Doritos: 'It's beautiful, man - it's real nice'- http://t.co/WmfGN2BlYP … #greatquote @seattlepd #hempfest
— Seattle Police Dept. (@SeattlePD) August 18, 2013
The Dorito sticker recommendations included “Don’t use pot in public. You could be cited but we’d rather give you a warning,” and “Do listen to Dark Side of the Moon at a reasonable volume,” according to WGNTV. But even with their newfound freedom, most smokers were cautious about the victory, declining to reveal full names or details about their smoking habits. And while the mood at the annual “protestival” was primarily optimistic, some detractors warn that Initiative 502 may actually be a path to making marijuana more expensive. Regardless, while marijuana remains nationally illegal, Washington has chosen to ignore it, for better or for worse.
Tweets Courtesy of Twitter