Pubdate: Mon, 31 Aug 2015
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer, The (PA)
Copyright: 2015 Philadelphia Newspapers Inc
Contact:  http://www.philly.com/inquirer/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/340
Authors: Brianna Gurciullom and Karen Mawdsley, NEWS21
Note: Brianna Gurciullo is a Kathryn Green Endowment and Stephen 
Holly Bronz Endowment Fellow.
Note: Eighth in a series.

POT'S BLURRY LEGAL LINE

Washington, D.C., is feeling its way around a new law that allows 
residents to grow and consume marijuana, but not sell or buy.

About 30 party guests in suits and summer dresses mingled in the 
backyard of a small home in the Forest Hills neighborhood in 
Washington, D.C., and snacked on hors d'oeuvres. Instead of 
cocktails, they sipped gourmet coffee and tea infused with marijuana.

In the kitchen, servers poured hot and iced drinks for the tasting 
party. They were showcasing products from House of Jane, a California 
company that sells cannabis-infused beverages. Jane's Brew C-Cups 
were on display in the living room, stacked on a table.

"What Jane's Brew is trying to do is alleviate, remove the stigma for 
cannabis," said Jill Amen, the company's cofounder, who was giving 
guests free samples. "It can be done in a professional way - just 
like a cocktail party, a very social event."

This is the new world of marijuana in the capital, where residents 
have been able to legally possess, privately consume, and grow 
limited amounts of pot since February.

The sale and purchase of marijuana remains illegal here, unlike the 
four states that have legalized both recreational and medical 
marijuana. Instead of being sold at shops and generating new tax 
revenue, marijuana in the district can be grown at home and shared.

Smokers and growers said they feel like they can be more open about 
their passions, but politicians, activists, and business people said 
pot continues to be dealt illegally at homes or on the streets. The 
illegal market is as robust as ever - if not more so, with D.C. 
residents curious and talking about marijuana.

As written, the law allows scenarios that cause residents and police 
officers to shrug their shoulders. You can't buy or sell marijuana, 
but what exactly constitutes a transaction? The line between legal 
and illegal is fine and blurry, confusing many and creating loopholes 
that some growers and dealers hope to exploit.

The people who helped put legalization on last year's ballot said 
this will be the reality for D.C. for at least a few more years. The 
federal government still classifies marijuana as an illegal and a 
dangerous drug. Lawmakers' positions on marijuana have not evolved as 
quickly as the public's, and Congress has blocked the district from 
creating a system to tax and regulate pot sales.

"D.C. is kind of like the Alice in Wonderland of cannabis. The Queen 
of Hearts is Congress," said Alex Jeffrey, executive director of the 
D.C. chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana 
Laws. "Recreation and regulation should go hand in hand. We are an 
exception to the rule."

The city also has a medical marijuana program, which the D.C. 
Department of Health regulates. More than 3,800 residents were 
enrolled in the program in mid-July.

Even if Congress - which approves D.C.'s budget - steps out of the 
way, it could take more than a year for the local government to 
implement a system for regulating and taxing pot sales unless a D.C. 
Council member introduces emergency legislation. After voters 
approved a ballot initiative by almost 70 percent to legalize medical 
marijuana in 1998, Congress blocked the city from creating 
regulations until 2009. The first legal medical marijuana sale didn't 
occur until 2013.

Adam Eidinger, who as chairman of the D.C. Cannabis Campaign 
spearheaded last year's ballot initiative, said he thinks possession, 
consumption, and home cultivation of recreational marijuana are 
enough for now. "We can handle where we're at right now for a little 
while longer and be very content with it," he said.

Opportunities, limits

A business climate has emerged in the district characterized by 
entrepreneurs finding creative, roundabout ways to make money legally 
without selling marijuana itself.

Businesses such as Canna Party L.L.C. bring products related to 
smoking marijuana into their clients' homes - like a jewelry party. 
MetroX DC delivers bongs, pipes, and lighters to residents' doorsteps.

After the new D.C. law went into effect, Silver Spring, Md., resident 
Jacob Asbell founded Hydro-City, which sells and rents equipment to 
grow marijuana indoors. "We come to your place, we set everything up 
for you, we teach you how to use it, we include everything you need 
to grow, and then just add seeds and water," he said.

The law still causes confusion. Other business people said they often 
feel like they have to test the law's parameters through trial and 
error. And marijuana possession remains illegal on federal land. That 
includes federally subsidized public housing projects, which are 
overwhelmingly home to black D.C. residents.

The path to decriminalization

Disparity in marijuana-related arrests between blacks and whites 
helped spur activists and politicians to set the district on the path 
to legalization. The American Civil Liberties Union found in a 2013 
study that, though blacks and whites nationwide use marijuana at 
about the same rates, blacks in D.C. were eight times more likely to 
be arrested for possession than whites.

Following that report, the D.C. Council voted in March 2014 to 
decriminalize small possession: Those caught with up to an ounce of 
marijuana would face only a $25 fine.

Activists then landed a measure on the November ballot to eliminate 
all penalties for possession of up to 2 ounces, and allow D.C. 
residents to grow up to six plants at home. About 70 percent of 
district voters approved the measure. It passed in every precinct except one.

Supporters said it would benefit those most likely to face arrest: 
members of black, lower-income communities. D.C. Cannabis Campaign 
posters read, "Legalization ends discrimination."

As recently as five years ago, a majority of blacks in D.C. had 
opposed legalization, according to a Washington Post poll. But 
opinion appeared to shift in 2014, with 58 percent of blacks 
supporting legalization, a Post poll found.

"Once the racial disparity issue was discussed and people began to 
understand that ... once people could see those numbers, the entire 
city came around," said Paul Zukerberg, an activist and D.C.-based lawyer.

Police and public safety

That dialogue also prompted a discussion about law enforcement 
practices. After the ACLU report, Metropolitan Police Department 
Chief Cathy Lanier publicly denied that D.C. officers targeted black residents.

Council member David Grosso said the chief has since told him that 
the police are "taking a pretty hands-off approach" to enforcement - 
something the ACLU is monitoring.

Between Feb. 26, when pot was legalized, and July 22, D.C. police 
made 120 marijuana-related arrests, according to MPD's public 
information office. Of those, 43 were for consumption of marijuana 
and 57 were for possession with intent to distribute.

In 2010, law enforcement agencies including MPD made 5,393 marijuana 
arrests in D.C., according to an ACLU analysis.

A legal market in D.C. could be worth $130 million a year, city 
officials have estimated. "If Congress would get off our backs, we 
would have a law passed in a couple of weeks," Grosso said.

A Senate committee recently approved a bill to allow D.C. to tax and 
regulate pot sales. But its chances are unclear: A separate House 
bill would keep sales illegal.

A growing medical marijuana program

Recreational legalization has rippled into the medical marijuana realm.

In July 2014, only 738 patients were registered with the Department 
of Health. By July 27 of this year, there were 3,948.

Corey Barnette, who owns a medical marijuana cultivation center 
called District Growers, said he has seen an increase in demand for 
the marijuana that his business grows. "We do see a lot of people, 
who we would call closet medicators, are more open to marijuana 
programs," he said.

The district has seven cultivation centers and five dispensaries. The 
city council has increased the number of plants cultivators can grow 
from 95 to 500 to 1,000.

Still, Barnette's not worried about competition from homegrown plants.

"Right now, all over D.C., people are learning just how difficult it 
is - or just how much attention is necessary - to grow a plant to 
pharmaceutical grade," he said. "You can grow your own tomatoes. Most 
people don't. You can grow your own carrots. Most people don't. You 
can make your own beer. Most people don't."

[sidebar]

About this Series

This report is part of the project titled "America's Weed Rush," an 
investigation into the legalization of marijuana. It was produced by 
the Carnegie-Knight News21 initiative, a national investigative 
reporting project involving top college journalism students across 
the country and headquartered at the Walter Cronkite School of 
Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. For 
the complete project, including additional stories, videos and 
interactive elements, visit http://weedrush.news21.com.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom