Spotted on Daily Mail:
Cannabis smokers campaigning to legalise the drug were washed out yesterday by the soggy weather.
Lobby groups boasted ‘thousands’ would descend on London’s Hyde Park in a protest over legalisation.
The move follows a trend in the US and Canada known as ‘420 Day’ where pro-cannabis activists hold mass smoking rallies on April 20.
But the persistent drizzle ensured that only the most determined and hardy users of the drug turned up.
Some also took to social networking sites to say it was not appropriate as the protest fell on Easter Sunday and many families would be in the park.
The few pro-cannabis campaigners who did arrive were met with police posters warning that possessing the drug is illegal. The Met even placed large signs at the park entrances announcing ‘extra police on patrol’.
A few dozen pro-cannabis campaigners were seen in the park, including some who had travelled from Bristol and Brighton. Other rallies were held in Manchester and Glasgow.
Three people were arrested in London, including one man seen posing for photographs with a poster reading: ‘Keep calm, smoke a zoot.’
Some took to Twitter and Facebook to warn off others from attending, pointing out that there was an ‘army of police’ in the park.
The number 420 is slang for cannabis, but its origins are unclear. Some claim it began with a group of Californian smokers who met up at 4.20pm every day in the 1970s.
The term was picked up by the rock band the Grateful Dead and became common parlance among fans.
A Met spokesman said anyone seen ‘openly smoking cannabis’ faced arrest or a warning for possessing the drug and its confiscation.
