Marijuana activist NA Poe highlights Philly pot arrests’ racial disparity by smoking weed at Geno’s Steaks

You may remember NA Poe as one of the driving figures behind the recent decriminalization of marijuana some Philadelphians enjoy today. And if you don't, no worries — he isn't finished yet.

Now, he's turned his sights on the racial disparity of marijuana citations and arrests here in Philadelphia, and famous Philly landmarks are providing the context in part of a series dubbed "#SMOKEDOWNPHILLY."

"Philadelphia just has so many beautiful places to go and smoke marijuana," Poe told Philly.com of the project.

Poe, real name Richard Tamaccio, released a video Monday showing himself smoking a joint outside of the Cheesesteak Las Vegas of South Philly: Geno's Steaks.

"What can I do as a white person?" Poe asks of the racially disparate marijuana arrests Philly experiences to begin the experiment. "I'm going to see how many famous landmarks in Philadelphia I can smoke marijuana at without getting arrested."

Black Philadelphians, as the Daily News pointed out in February, are cited 2.5 times more frequently than white Philadelphians — an aspect that Jim Kenney blames on the "unfortunate" stop-and-frisk policy the city follows.

The usage rates for marijuana among those two racial groups, however, is roughly equivalent, according to a 2013 report from the ACLU — an aspect Poe notes during his stand-up.

But it's not just the racial disparity that Poe plans to go after with the #SMOKEDOWNPHILLY" series — almost anything is fair game.

"I realized that there are kids that can't get medicine, vets that need weed," Poe says. "We want to push the boundaries of how we do this, and decriminalization has allowed us to be more bold in our demonstrations."

And, to that end, Poe insists his job is not yet done.

"We don't mean any disrespect to the police or city council as reformers," Poe says. "We are very happy. But it is our job, and this is not over."