The Cannabis Deletion Act comes into effect in DC

The measure, approved by the District of Columbia Council late last year, mandates “automatic sealing for non-hazardous, non-convicted individuals, as well as a reduction in waiting times before an individual is eligible to seal their records,” and “would expand They also authorize who can seal their records. The law was signed into law by Washington, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser in January, but its passage has been delayed due to a mysterious piece of legislation in our nation’s capital.

Laws in DC are subject to oversight and approval by Congress — a provision that has prevented the district from conducting legal marijuana sales, even though voters there legalized cannabis back in 2014.

After Bowser signed the cannabis eradication measure into law in January, the bill was sent to Congress. As NORML explained, “All legislation must undergo a 30-day review by Congress before it becomes law,” and without Congressional intervention, the bill will then go into effect.

That moment is now – or rather, March 10, when the law officially went into effect.

NORML has more about the new law:

“The law provides for the automatic review and deletion of any convictions or subpoenas related to marijuana-related offenses subsequently decriminalized or legalized in the District of Columbia, as well as any records relating to just simple possession of any amount Obtaining marijuana in violation of DC Code § 48-904.01(d)(1) before February 15, 2015.’ It requires that all cannabis-specific deletions be processed by the courts by January 1, 2025.”

Paul Armentano, Deputy Director of NORML, welcomed the new law.

“Thousands of DC residents unjustly bear the burden and stigma of a prior conviction for conduct that district lawmakers, most Americans and a growing number of states no longer consider a crime,” Armenato said. “Our sense of justice and principles of fairness require the courts to act swiftly to correct past mistakes in the prohibition and criminalization of cannabis.”

In 2021, it seemed like legal cannabis sales might finally come to Washington, DC

That’s because Senate Democrats were introducing a budget bill at the time that didn’t include the so-called “Harris Rider,” a budget tab named after Republican Congressman Andy Harris of Maryland that has appeared in every such bill since 2014.

The Harris Rider blocked Washington, DC from engaging in legal commercial marijuana sales.

At the time, Bowser celebrated the driver’s apparent exclusion from the proposed bill.

“The Senate Budget Act is a critical step in recognizing that DC residents should be governed by DC values ​​in a democracy,” Bowser’s office said at the time. “As we continue the journey towards DC statehood, I would like to thank Senator Appropriations Committee Chairman Senator Patrick Leahy, our good friend and Subcommittee Chairman Senator Chris Van Hollen, and of course our champion on the Hill, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes, thank Norton, for recognizing and promoting the will of DC voters. We urge Congress to pass a final spending bill that will similarly remove all anti-Home Rule tabs, allowing DC to spend our local funds as it sees fit.

Activist groups pressured congressional Democrats to stand firm and drop the Harris Rider.

“On the one hand, Congress continues to make strides in advancing federal marijuana reform based on racial justice, while remaining responsible for ensuring that the very jurisdiction that has guided the country through that lens in legalizing marijuana prevented from regulating it. This conflict and contradiction must end now,” Queen Adesuyi, senior national policy manager for the Drug Policy Alliance, said in a statement last year.

But it shouldn’t be.

The budget that finally surfaced last year included the Harris Rider.