A GOP congressman and local Washington, D.C. officials are criticizing the ongoing federal ban blocking the District from legalizing marijuana sales in the nation\u2019s capital.<\/p>\n
During a hearing before a House Appropriations subcommittee on Tuesday, Chairman Dave Joyce (R-OH) voiced opposition to a longstanding spending bill rider that prevents D.C. from using its local funds to implement a commercial cannabis market\u2014despite voters approving legalization a decade ago.<\/p>\n
Appropriations legislation covering Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) continues to contain the controversial rider that Joyce, who also serves as a co-chair of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus, said he recognizes that some members hope to \u201creview and modify.\u201d<\/p>\n
Allowing D.C. to set its own marijuana laws would help to \u201censure the District has authority to promote public safety,\u201d the congressman said.<\/p>\n
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Joyce added that \u201cit is worth noting that each of these provisions are based on member requests in response to serious concerns with actions taken, or not taken, by the District,\u201d he said, declining to clarify what that meant with respect to the marijuana-focused rider. \u201cCongress will continue to maintain its Constitutional authority and responsibility to exercise authority over the city\u2019s laws and budget.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the hearing<\/a>, D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) also weighed in on the congressionally imposed cannabis restriction<\/a>, calling it one of the \u201cmost damaging\u201d infringements on the District\u2019s autonomy.<\/p>\n \u201cThis rider dates back a decade and is responsible for a black market estimated at over $600 million annually,\u201d he said. \u201cOver half the states permit recreational cannabis, but we are the only one that cannot regulate it.\u201d<\/p>\n This is an urgent matter since, as time goes by, not only will it be more difficult to displace the illegal businesses, but in the meantime, the illegal gifting stores attract violent crime due to their cash only nature and the illegality of their activity,\u201d he said, referring to unlicensed retailers that have cropped up that carry out a ruse of \u201cgifting\u201d free marijuana when people purchase other items like t-shirts or drinks.<\/p>\n \u201cOur police try to shut down the illegal stores, and the United States attorney declines to prosecute,\u201d Mendelson said. \u201cThe congressional rider has had a negative impact on public safety.\u201d<\/p>\n Joyce also reiterated his concern with hemp-derived cannabinoids such as delta-8 THC that he says are accessible to youth, calling them \u201ccrap.\u201d D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) said she agreed with the congressman and that certain hemp products that have been made available are \u201cnot only crap\u201d but are occasionally \u201cdeadly.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe know we don\u2019t want our kids or adults buying off market where we can\u2019t assure the authenticity of the product,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Mendelson also weighed in on the issue, pointing out that, \u201cif we could regulate, we\u2019d have seed-to-sale [tracking of cannabis products]. But we can\u2019t regulate.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhere there have been enforcement efforts against these illegal gifting shops, there\u2019s sometimes been testing by the government,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd we have found, almost always, that there are other substances mixed in with the cannabis. And we\u2019ve also, as I mentioned before, found other drugs that are being sold in those establishments.\u201d<\/p>\n Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-NC) also pressed the D.C. officials, asking Mendelson whether he\u2019d like to see increased federal enforcement for cannabis offenses that violate the district\u2019s rules.<\/p>\n Mendelson affirmed that he would support escalated enforcement, though he clarified that he was speaking about unlicensed \u201cpop-up stores\u201d selling cannabis products under the guise of lawful \u201cgifting.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey don\u2019t have a license. They purport to be selling cannabis. Typically, it is laced with other drugs,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s actually dangerous to human health, and when they have been closed down\u2014because we have started to close them down\u2014there will be other drugs that are found, and it\u2019s a real problem.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re just not getting prosecuted in courts,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, a new legal analysis published by NORML concluded that if the Biden administration\u2019s ongoing marijuana rescheduling proposal is ultimately implemented, it could \u201copen a door\u201d for D.C. to finally legalize marijuana sales<\/a>.<\/p>\n While the impact of moving cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) on individual states would likely be \u201climited,\u201d maintaining the policy disconnect between state-level legalization and federal prohibition, it could have a more meaningful effect for D.C., the pro-legalization group said.<\/p>\n In a separate report published earlier this year by the\u00a0Congressional Research Service (CRS), analysts also said that the \u201cproposed rescheduling of marijuana<\/a>\u00a0would permit the District government, as a matter of local law, to authorize the commercial sale of recreational marijuana, establish market regulations, and levy marijuana taxes, among other policy option.\u201d<\/p>\n President Joe Biden has\u00a0consistently maintained the D.C. ban in his budget proposals<\/a>. And while congressional lawmakers have attempted on several occasions to strip the rider, they\u2019ve so far been unsuccessful.<\/p>\n But whether marijuana is ultimately rescheduled still remains to be seen. The Justice Department formally proposed the reform following a scientific review from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), but the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is now carrying out administrative hearings to solicit additional input before potentially finalizing the rule.<\/p>\n Last week, DEA Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) John Mulrooney issued a ruling laying out\u00a0the timeline for merit-based hearings on the Biden administration\u2019s rescheduling proposal<\/a>.<\/p>\n New York Officials Say State Will Pass $1 Billion Marijuana Sales Mark By End Of Year, While Urging Adults To Buy Locally This Holiday<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The post GOP Congressman And D.C. Officials Push To End Federal Ban On Marijuana Sales In Nation\u2019s Capitol<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
A GOP congressman and local Washington, D.C. officials are criticizing the ongoing federal ban blocking the District from legalizing marijuana sales in the nation\u2019s capital. During a hearing before a House Appropriations subcommittee on Tuesday, Chairman Dave Joyce (R-OH) voiced opposition to a longstanding spending bill rider that prevents D.C.Continue 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":[18,81,126],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79368"}],"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=79368"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79368\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79369,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79368\/revisions\/79369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: GOP Congressman And D.C. Officials Push To End Federal Ban On Marijuana Sales In Nation\u2019s Capitol<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"