An iconic foreshadowing of a certain (and uncertain) banner year for marijuana law and policy

I was at first disinclined to blog about the New Year’s Day prank reported in this CNN piece, headlined “Hollywood sign vandalized to read ‘Hollyweed’.”  But I have obviously now reconsidered, due in part to the fact that the prank makes for a great picture to add to the blog and in part because the prank can be seen as a kind of dramatic foreshadowing for what is sure to be a fascinating and dynamic 2017 in the arena of marijuana reform.  So, first, more about the prank with a little context via CNN:

The Hollywood sign got a little green over New Year’s. A prankster managed to change the iconic sign overlooking Los Angeles early Sunday to read “Hollyweed,” said L.A. Police Officer Christopher Garcia, who works in the agency’s security service division.

The vandal — who police think is probably a man — used tarps to change the O’s in the sign to E’s, he said. The vandal was caught on security-camera footage between midnight and 2 a.m. local time, but police can’t tell his race or height because it was dark and raining, Garcia said.

The “Hollyweed” sign remained up until around 11 a.m., when authorities took down the tarps used to change the lettering. Estevan Montemayor, a spokesman for Los Angeles City Councilman David Ryu, whose district includes the Hollywood sign, had earlier promised the iconic sign would be restored to its normal state. “We don’t know who did it but park rangers are going up there very soon to take down the draping that was put on top of the ‘O’ to alter the sign,” Montemayor said Sunday morning….

Betsy Isroelit with the Hollywood Sign Trust told CNN that the last time the sign was vandalized to read “Hollyweed” was in 1976. Vandals have altered the sign several times over the years.

Californians voted in November to make recreational use of marijuana legal statewide for those 21 and over.

As for the foreshadowing, the future of marijuana legalization in Hollywood and in the rest of the nation will be a topic (among so many) that will be in play starting next week when Senate hearings are scheduled for consideration of Prez-Elect Donald Trump’s pick of Senator Jeff Sessions to be the next Attorney General. In addition, just how California political and industry players will respond to the full legalization vote could well define many of the state-specific parameters for continued discussions of marijuana reform in other states.

So, to use some Hollywood vernacular, the sign prank was in a sense an appropriate teaser trailer for the year to come.