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.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom