Last week, I blogged about the odd predicament facing the District of Columbia on the brink of the legalization of marijuana in the district. As I explained, last fall, the voters of D.C. passed a referendum legalizing marijuana. Republicans in Congress attempted to block legalization but failed. So, marijuana will become legal in D.C. on February 26th.
Here’s where it gets interesting. As the Washington Post reports, although residents and visitors old enough to drink a beer will be able to possess enough pot to roll 100 joints, it’s entirely unclear how anyone will obtain it. Unlike the four states where voters have approved recreational pot use, Congress — which couldn’t undo the results of the referendum — has blocked the development of any new rules establishing legal ways to sell it, protections for those caught purchasing it or taxes to cover its social costs.
So, while Congress has not halted legalization, it has set up the district for potential chaos. Barring last-minute federal intervention, the District’s attorney general said that pot will become legal as early as Feb. 26 without any regulations in place to govern a new marketplace that is likely to explode into view.
Even some supporters of the initiative are worried. At best, they predict an uncertain free-for-all where marijuana enthusiasts immediately start growing and smoking at home — and testing the limits of a law that does not allow for public consumption or sale. At worst, they say, as entrepreneurs push ahead with the business of pot, unregulated businesses will start popping up with no means to judge the safety of their product.
In Colorado and Washington state, voter-approved ballot measures making pot legal prompted state leaders to create highly regulated industries, with far more rules than those governing the sale of alcohol or cigarettes.
In Colorado, every marijuana plant grown for sale must be tagged with radio-frequency identification and tracked from seed to sale. Washington state is even more restrictive, setting caps for how many stores may sell pot and requiring reporting of every milligram that goes out the door to consumers.
When the referendum passed, district leaders planned to create a similar set of rules. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser said upon the referendum’s approval that she would not allow it to become law until the city approved rules for taxing and selling the plant.
But Bowser’s stance changed in December, when congressional Republicans inserted a restriction in a budget bill blocking the District from doing so. Boxed in by Congress, Bowser and D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson said they would rather err on the side of supporting city voters. With little ability to control what might come next, they declared the ballot measure “self-enacting.”
With Bowser’s blessing, Mendelson sent Initiative 71 to Capitol Hill to start a congressional review period imposed on all new city laws. Mendelson was essentially throwing down the gauntlet, challenging Congress either to take action to block Initiative 71 altogether or to let the city govern itself.
In the meantime, this quandary creates a number of unanswered questions. For instance, what happens if someone who lives in federal public housing in the District lights up? Under current federal law, residents can lose their housing for a single drug violation. But that act will be legal in the district.
Perhaps it’s time for Congress to raise the white flag and move on to more important things.