Top local officials from Washington, D.C. participated in a congressional hearing on Wednesday, sharply criticizing federal lawmakers over a policy that bars the District from legalizing and regulating marijuana sales.<\/p>\n
D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) told the House Oversight and Accountability Committee that \u201ccongressional interference\u201d in local laws on issues like cannabis threatens the city\u2019s ability to \u201caddress crime and public safety.\u201d<\/p>\n
Residents of the nation\u2019s capital voted \u201coverwhelmingly\u201d to legalize marijuana for adult use in 2014, but \u201cCongress has stepped in to prohibit the District from adopting any law to regulate this industry,\u201d he said in written testimony, referencing a spending bill rider that prevents the District from using local tax dollars to implement a commercial marijuana market.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause the District is congressionally prohibited from regulating the sale or distribution of recreational cannabis, we now have a black market estimated at over $600 million annually,\u201d Mendelson said. \u201cThe answer to this problem is not to \u2018shut it down,\u2019 as that would continue the failed prohibitionist approach toward cannabis that created the black market to begin with. Rather, the answer is to allow the District to regulate the sale and distribution of recreational cannabis, so we can create a legal market that competes with and puts the black market out of business.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is an urgent matter, since as time goes by, not only will it be more difficult to displace these illegal businesses when the day comes that we can regulate, but in the meantime the illegal \u2018gifting\u2019 stores attract violent crime due to all the cash on hand and the illegality of their activity. So our police do try to shut down the illegal stores. And the U.S. Attorney\u2014the individual responsible for prosecuting these crimes\u2014declines to prosecute. The situation is out of control. Congress\u2019s interference in this matter has had a negative impact on public safety.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis rider is actually endangering public safety in the District,\u201d the chairman said.<\/p>\n
In spite of the rider, D.C. lawmakers refiled a bill in January to legalize marijuana sales<\/a>. A\u00a0federal oversight agency determined last year that the congressional rider does not preclude local officials from\u00a0taking procedural steps to prepare<\/a>\u00a0for the eventual reform, such as holding hearings.<\/p>\n D.C. Councilmember Charles Allen (D), who chairs the body\u2019s Judiciary and Public Safety Committee, also said<\/a> in his testimony for Wednesday\u2019s hearing that Congress must remove \u201call budget riders related to the District, including on the taxation and regulation of cannabis, which has led to the growth of a gray market that engenders crime.\u201d<\/p>\n\n Cannabis was not raised as a topic of discussion during the hearing itself, but the local lawmakers\u2019 inclusion of the issue in their written testimony highlights longstanding frustrations with Congress\u2019s continued interference.<\/p>\n Advocates have continued to push for an end to the federal blockade, but that effort ultimately failed for\u00a0the 2023 Fiscal Year, with congressional lawmakers passing a final spending deal before the new session that keeps the rider, even though\u00a0both the House and Senate had<\/a>\u00a0omitted it in their respective versions<\/a>\u00a0last year.<\/p>\n After President Joe Biden issued a proclamation in October pardoning Americans who\u2019ve committed federal marijuana possession offenses, as well as people who\u2019ve violated the law in D.C., U.S. Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC)\u00a0called on the president to go further<\/a>\u00a0by federally legalizing cannabis and letting the District establish a commercial cannabis market and grant clemency on its own.<\/p>\n The congresswoman said the ongoing local ban, which was\u00a0maintained in Biden\u2019s first three budget proposals<\/a>, represents a \u201cshocking violation of D.C. home rule by a Democratic administration.\u201d<\/p>\n A coalition of local, state and national advocacy organizations\u00a0recently asked the U.S. attorney general<\/a>\u00a0to formally adopt a policy of non-enforcement to allow the District to legalize marijuana sales even in light of the ongoing congressional ban.<\/p>\n A poll released in September found that\u00a0D.C. voters strongly support marijuana legalization<\/a>\u00a0and oppose a crackdown on the cannabis \u201cgifting\u201d market that\u2019s emerged in the absence of regulated sales.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Congress did recently allow a D.C. law to go into effect<\/a> that makes fundamental changes to the District\u2019s medical marijuana program.<\/p>\n The measure includes reforms such as eliminating cannabis business licensing caps, providing tax relief to operators, further promoting social equity and creating new regulated business categories such as on-site consumption facilities and cannabis cooking classes.<\/p>\n The Medical Cannabis Amendment Act further codifies that adults can self-certify as medical marijuana patients\u2014a policy that\u2019s served as a partial workaround of the federal rider.<\/p>\n Kentucky House Advances Medical Marijuana Legalization Bill, With Vote On Final Passage Expected Thursday<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Philip Steffan<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post D.C. Lawmakers Demand That Congress End Marijuana Legalization \u2018Interference\u2019 At House Committee Hearing<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Top local officials from Washington, D.C. participated in a congressional hearing on Wednesday, sharply criticizing federal lawmakers over a policy that bars the District from legalizing and regulating marijuana sales. D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) told the House Oversight and Accountability Committee that \u201ccongressional interference\u201d in local laws onContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63214"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63214"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63214\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63215,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63214\/revisions\/63215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: D.C. Lawmakers Demand That Congress End Marijuana Legalization \u2018Interference\u2019 At House Committee Hearing<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"