Washington D.C.-based activist Adam Eidinger has devoted much of his life to the good fight. A clever and unrelenting opponent of federal cannabis prohibition, the IMF and World Bank, Monsanto’s unlabeled GMOs, and other terrible things, he’s been arrested 15 times for various attention-grabbing actions. Two of best include handing out free joints to congressional staffers this past 4/20 and planting hemp seeds in the front lawn of the DEA’s Virginia headquarters in 2009. As an educator, organizer, protester, and leader for the reform movement, Eidinger helped pass Initiative 71, which finally legalized cannabis in the District of Columbia on Feb. 26, 2015.

That was just the beginning. The fight continues for Eidinger, who co-owns the industrial hemp retailer Capitol Hemp and who founded the organization DCMJ, which worked toward decriminalization and is now a community for cannabis users, growers, and their families. No matter the resistance he faces, he’s determined to improve District laws, make the DEA reschedule cannabis, and bring about federal legalization.

While in D.C., MERRY JANE News correspondent Brooke Burgstahler sat down with Eidinger for a look at the past and future of District and federal cannabis reform. Join them as they discuss the LGBTQ community’s pioneering role in fighting for medical marijuana in D.C., the long struggle to pass Initiative 71, why laws need updating, why Trump has been bad for marijuana, his most recent arrest, and advice for getting involved in local cannabis politics.