Pubdate: Fri, 27 Feb 2015
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2015 Los Angeles Times
Contact:  http://www.latimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Author: Noah Bierman

A HAZE OF UNCERTAINTY OVER MARIJUANA IN WASHINGTON

Recreational Pot Use Becomes Legal in D.C., but Congress Calls the 
City's Law Invalid.

WASHINGTON - The city that brought America government shutdowns and 
all-night filibusters made recreational marijuana use legal Thursday. 
And the foggy dispute over whether the law is even valid has probably 
made some people in the District of Columbia wish they were smoking some.

It's a fight that could make sense only in Washington, involving 
language drafted in backrooms of Congress, partisan bickering and a 
disputed loophole that allowed the law to take effect at midnight.

By Thursday morning, recreational pot supporters in the nation's 
capital were lighting up in their homes to celebrate. Many were 
getting high as they normally do, said Zack Pesavento, press officer 
for the D.C. Cannabis Campaign, which led the successful referendum 
on recreational pot in November. "Now they just don't have to worry 
about getting arrested for it."

Pesavento said his organization did not hold an official pot party, 
in keeping with the spirit of the law, which allows smoking marijuana 
in small amounts at home.

"The mayor has done exactly what she was elected to do, which is 
uphold the will of the people," said LaToya Foster, spokeswoman for 
Mayor Muriel Bowser. "What happens next, we just have to wait and 
see, but right now the mayor has made it clear that at 12:01 this 
morning, the law went in effect."

Residents voted overwhelmingly to allow growing and possessing small 
amounts of marijuana. But Congress, using its oversight authority 
over the nation's capital, inserted a provision into a massive 
December spending deal that prevented the local government from 
enacting the law.

A dispute over the meaning of "enact" left uncertainty over what 
exactly is legal. It also sparked a standoff between the Democratic 
mayor, Bowser, and the Republican-led Congress, which made oblique 
threats of jailing city officials if they proceeded with legalization.

The dispute highlights the constant tension over autonomy in this 
city of largely liberal voters that is overseen by an increasingly 
conservative Congress. The local issue also holds symbolic value in 
the national battle over marijuana laws, given the district's 
position as the headquarters in the war on drugs.

"We're the nation's capital, so I feel like it just makes people 
uneasy," said Ellen Bloom, a 24-year-old resident strolling near the 
White House this week. She said she voted for legalization but did 
not smoke pot. "Maybe it'll set the stage for the rest of the country."

Rep. Jason Chaffetz (RUtah), who chairs the committee that oversees 
the district, warned city officials in a letter Tuesday that they 
would be "in willful violation of the law" if they moved forward with 
legalization. His letter announced an investigation and demanded a 
list of city employees "who participated in any way in any action 
related to enactment" in crafting the city's marijuana guidelines 
released this week.

But legalization advocates and city officials argue that they are 
simply carrying out a law that voters enacted. And Congress failed to 
use its specific authority to overturn the marijuana law within an 
official review period, which expired Wednesday.

Eleanor Holmes Norton, a Democrat and the district's nonvoting 
delegate in the House, was furious over what she called 
"unnecessarily hostile congressional reactions."

The fight with Congress has prevented the City Council from studying 
more specific regulations, or crafting ways to allow legal pot sales, 
as Colorado and Washington state have done. Officials in Alaska, 
which this week became the third state to legalize pot for 
recreational use, quickly began work to craft policies to create a 
legal marijuana market. Oregon voters legalized pot in November, but 
it won't become legal there until July.

The bare-bones rules released by Bowser and Police Chief Cathy Lanier 
on Tuesday were intended to make clear that pot possession is 
restricted to less than two ounces and is legal only for adults over 
21. Marijuana cannot be sold, nor can it be used in public. Driving 
while high also remains illegal. Marijuana is already decriminalized 
in the district, so Bowser characterized legalization as incremental.

A city website poses a number of questions in Q&A format, including 
whether D.C. is "going to be like Amsterdam" (no) and whether one 
"can eat a marijuana brownie at a park" or bus stop (also no).

But there are plenty of unanswered questions, including whether the 
plants can be grown on private property and where a lawabiding 
citizen might obtain the seeds.

City leaders want to prevent marijuana clubs from forming, but have 
not yet passed an ordinance to ban them. There is also a question of 
federal regulation in a city that has multiple law enforcement agencies.

Opponents of legalization say those on the other side of the debate 
may be overplaying their hand in Washington, particularly if the 
council attempts to set up a legal distribution system and collect taxes.

"I don't think Congress, especially this Congress, is just going to 
roll over and play dead," said Kevin Sabet, a former advisor to three 
presidents who is executive director of the anti-legalization group 
Smart Approaches to Marijuana.

He added: "I find it a little astonishing that the collective 
group-think on this has been that D.C. residents really want a 
marijuana store down the street from their kids' school."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom