Pubdate: Fri, 07 Nov 2014 Source: Boston Globe (MA) Copyright: 2014 Globe Newspaper Company Contact: http://services.bostonglobe.com/news/opeds/letter.aspx?id=6340 Website: http://bostonglobe.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/52 LEGALIZATION OF MARIJUANA IN DC HEADS TO CONGRESS Congress to Weigh in on Marijuana The national marijuana legalization debate is moving into the backyard of a Republican-controlled Congress, now that the District of Columbia has voted to legalize growing, possessing, and sharing small amounts of the drug. Voters in Oregon and Alaska also approved legalization initiatives, joining Colorado and Washington state, where marijuana is already legally available. But while states out West enjoy both autonomy and distance, federal lawmakers have the power to quash any District law they don't like. And with legalization getting a foothold on the East Coast for the first time, the District's initiative could force Congress to make decisions affecting the future of legal marijuana nationwide. "Members of Congress are literally going to be witness to these changes," said Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, which spent heavily to push all three ballot initiatives. "It's a form of educating the members of Congress in a way that some members would not get educated, depending on the states that they're from." All laws in the nation's capital are sent to Capitol Hill for review. Congress rarely invokes that power, but when members do want to block District policies, they can attach amendments to unrelated, omnibus legislation too critical to be vetoed. Congress routinely bars the spending of local tax dollars on abortions for poor women using this strategy, and delayed medical marijuana in the District for more than a decade. The District voted 69 percent to 31 percent Tuesday to approve the growing, possessing, or sharing of up to two ounces of marijuana and up to three mature marijuana plants for personal use. Months earlier, a decriminalization law took effect, limiting the penalty for possession of a personal-use amount to a $25 ticket. But it could take months at least before marijuana-smoking is totally OK in the District. Elected officials and advocates can't even agree whether the congressional review period lasts 30 days while the House and Senate are both in session, or 60. Also, the initiative doesn't provide for the legal sale or taxation of marijuana. Democratic Mayor-elect Muriel Bowser said Wednesday that she wouldn't let it take effect until the D.C. Council implements a tax-and-regulation program. D.C. Cannabis Campaign chairman Adam Eidinger vowed to challenge the delay, which he said would thwart the will of the voters. Representative Andy Harris, a Maryland Republican, tried to block the decriminalization law, and said Wednesday that he'll try to block legalization as well, arguing that drug use among teenagers will rise if they fail to stop it. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom