A group of activists dressed in ape suits danced around an eight-foot monolith that they erected outside of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) headquarters on Wednesday, calling on the agency to evolve its policies on marijuana and other controlled substances.
A group of activists dressed in ape suits danced around an eight-foot monolith that they erected outside of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) headquarters on Wednesday, calling on the agency to evolve its policies on marijuana and other controlled substances.
It’s OK if you need to read that again.
A group calling itself Anonymous Apes organized the stunt to protest DEA policies such as the criminalization of drugs like cannabis and psilocybin and the way the agency enforces current bans, such as through the use of deadly no-knock raids. It was a play on Stanley Kubric’s 1968 sci-fi film 2001: A Space Odyssey, in which apes discover an alien monolith that accelerates human evolution.
A group of activists dressed in ape suits danced around an eight-foot monolith that they erected outside of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) headquarters on Wednesday, calling on the agency to evolve its policies on marijuana and other controlled substances.
It’s OK if you need to read that again.
A group calling itself Anonymous Apes organized the stunt to protest DEA policies such as the criminalization of drugs like cannabis and psilocybin and the way the agency enforces current bans, such as through the use of deadly no-knock raids. It was a play on Stanley Kubric’s 1968 sci-fi film 2001: A Space Odyssey, in which apes discover an alien monolith that accelerates human evolution.
The activists are effectively telling DEA to evolve on various criminal justice reform issues—and they did so by placing a 2,001-pound block in front of the agency’s main building in Arlington, Virginia and drawing a scene as they mimicked apes.
“The Drug Enforcement Administration of the Department of Justice has failed the American people for too long,” Anonymous Apes said in a statement that was promoted by the advocacy group DC Marijuana Justice (DCMJ). “This monolith of government oppression has imprisoned 10’s of millions of American citizens for seeking healing relief with natural substances.”
“The DEA, much like a floppy disc or VHS tape, must innovate to represent current science around plant medicines and end its lopsided enforcement practices which disproportionately affect people of color,” Anonymous Apes said. “We believe this monolith has arrived to guide us to a better future, and joins with us to demand that the DEA be brought to justice.”
