Pubdate: Wed, 04 Mar 2015
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Copyright: 2015 The Washington Post Company
Contact: http://mapinc.org/url/mUgeOPdZ
Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/491
Author: Courtland Milloy

MAYOR HARSHES A POT ADVOCATE'S MELLOW

Adam Eidinger was flying high.

As chairman of the DC Cannabis Campaign, he helped spearhead the push 
to legalize marijuana in the nation's capital. When the law went into 
effect Thursday, he retreated to his campaign headquarters and took a 
victory toke, then another and another.

Now, just a few days later, Eidinger is feeling low. On Tuesday, the 
D.C. Council passed emergency legislation - offered by Mayor Muriel 
E. Bowser (D) - that Eidinger says will undermine some provisions of 
the original law and hamper further liberalization of marijuana use.

Bowser's legislation doubles down on restricting marijuana use to the 
home - making clear that the prohibition on smoking outdoors doesn't 
mean that just any old indoors will do. You won't be allowed to smoke 
inside any business registered with the city - not in a nightclub, 
private club, hotel, bar or restaurant, to name a few.

"This is nonsense," Eidinger said. "People who want to grow and smoke 
marijuana are tired of living like criminals."

Malik Burnett, policy manager for the Drug Policy Alliance, was 
bummed out, too.

"I can see the outcry against smoking in public spaces," said 
Burnett, who is a physician, "and making it a civil offense with a 
fine is not necessarily a terrible way to deter public use. But to 
impose criminal penalties undermines the reason why marijuana was legalized."

The primary reason was to put an end to racial disparities in arrests 
for marijuana possession. In 2013, the ACLU of the Nation's Capital 
reported that blacks in the District were nearly eight times as 
likely as whites to get arrested even though the rates of marijuana 
use were roughly the same.

Under the initiative approved by voters, residents and visitors ages 
21 and older will be allowed to legally possess as much as two ounces 
of marijuana and to grow up to three marijuana plants at home.

Eidinger believes that confining smoking to private residences will 
cause smokers to turn their homes into "speakeasies" and "after-hours joints."

"In light of how the law was being enforced in D.C., the people most 
likely to get caught smoking outdoors and end up with criminal 
records are the ones likely not to own a home or those who live in 
apartments where the lease prohibits smoking," Burnett said. "You 
could end up with racial disparities in arrests being even greater."

Until the details of her legislation became known, Bowser was being 
hailed by pot advocates as the warrior queen of Washington. When some 
in Congress became irate about the prospect of marijuana being 
legalized in their back yard, Bowser stood her ground.

One of them threatened to have city officials jailed and to hold up 
parts of the city budget that Congress controls. At a news 
conference, Bowser seemed to lean into the microphones and all but 
dare them to do it.

Her legislation, however, did not convey that same boldness.

"She's just trying to temper any backlash for sticking up for 
marijuana," Eidinger said. "She's giving something to the people who 
were against it: the Republicans in Congress, the 30 percent of the 
people in the city who voted against it - the elitists, the 
establishment. She does something great then turns around and does 
something bad."

Is Bowser having second thoughts? Mike Czin, the mayor's spokesman, says no.

"The law passed by voters says ' home grown, home use,' and the mayor 
just wants to make sure it's done in a safe, responsible way," Czin said.

Eidinger said that being homebound is not what he bargained for.

"To say you can only use it in your home smacks of secondclass 
status," he said. "You would never say you can only drink at home. 
This would keep thousands of us in our homes, around our kids. I 
don't smoke when my daughter is at home."

I relayed Eidinger's concerns to Czin.

"It's legal to smoke cigarettes, but that doesn't mean you can smoke 
where your activities are a disruption to others," Czin said. "It 
comes down to basic decorum."

Eidinger said, "But if I want to rent out a venue where people can 
gather to smoke, that would be against the law."

He sounded exasperated, like he could use a joint.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom