President Barack Obama may smell something familiar on April 2 when marijuana activists inspired by comedian Bill Maher host what they believe will be a massive act of civil disobedience in front of the White House.

The bold protest plan, announced Tuesday by the D.C. Cannabis Campaign, calls for reform advocates to gather on Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House on the Saturday. Speakers will demand that Obama reschedule marijuana without Congress, as he has the power to do, and pardon Americans jailed for marijuana crimes.

And then people will be invited to commit acts of civil disobedience.

To underscore the call for rescheduling marijuana, the protest's April 2 date was selected as a tongue-in-cheek rescheduling of the traditional April 20 pot holiday. Toke-up time, however, remains 4:20 p.m.

“There is a huge pent-up demand for this right now, we actually do have the support to do this,” says Adam Eidinger, organizer of the D.C. Cannabis Campaign.

"We're calling on the whole country to come," he says. "This is a national mobilization. Some of us may end up in jail, and that’s fine. It’s actually necessary at this point.”

The protest plan may sound like a pipe dream, but organizers have a track record of success.

The group spearheaded the 2014 ballot initiative that cast off local penalties for minor possession and cultivation of marijuana – but not public consumption – in the nation’s capital. And in March 2015, the group hosted two enormous marijuana seed giveaways, thumbing its nose at action by congressional Republicans that blocked regulated sales.

The campaign polled its supporters on whether to host the protest after Maher warned on his HBO show that state-level pot legalization is vulnerable so long as federal prohibition remains. Maher smoked a joint on air as he warned legalization was far from a done deal.

Watch Maher's remarks:

Eidinger says he hopes more than 1,000 people will attend the un-permitted protest. Maher will get his own invite, he says, and people uninterested in arrest will be provided the opportunity to avoid the risk.

"We have to take action now, that's the idea," Eidinger says. "If it’s not going to happen under Obama, it’s sure as hell not going to happen with Hillary."

Four states currently have laws allowing the regulated sale of recreational marijuana. About half allow the drug for medical use. The Obama administration largely tolerates state autonomy, even though pot possession for any reason outside limited research remains a federal crime.

Eidinger says Obama, who believes marijuana is less dangerous to consume than alcohol, is reformers' best shot at rescheduling the drug, which would allow greater research and a potential for its use as lawful medicine – and for flinging open penitentiary doors.

"He should pardon tens of thousands of marijuana growers in jail right now. And he should be pardoning them all," he says. "The war on drugs is a failure? Mass incarceration is a failure? Then do something about it."

Rescheduling the drug would not make it federally legal, but Eidinger says it would be a significant step along that path. Marijuana currently is a Schedule I substance, a federal classification for drugs with a potential for abuse and no accepted medical value.

“This is going to be an extremely personal protest with the president,” Eidinger says. “It is not going to be Trump people out there. This is going to be his so-called base that thought he would do something for us essentially giving up. The only way to stop this protest is to start doing something. We threw the gauntlet down today, essentially.”

The D.C. Cannabis Campaign briefly considered hosting a large public smoking protest on April 20 last year to protest local policies, but changed course due to tactical considerations. The freshly announced protest actually is happening, Eidinger says, thanks to significant grassroots support.

The plan was unveiled on Super Tuesday, one of the most significant days in the presidential primary season, with pot reformers less than enthused with Republican front-runner Donald Trump and Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, both of whom embrace a states-rights position but not marijuana use.

Clinton has said she never smoked marijuana, and Eidinger notes she was wedded to former President Bill Clinton when he enacted tough-on-drugs laws.