National cannabis advocates are calling for an end to the blockade of Washington DC’s adult-use market
The ACLU, DPA and Dr. Bronner’s are using election dynamics to push for a legal adult-use market in Washington DC, approved by voters back in 2014.
In 2014, Washington DC voters overwhelmingly voted to legalize the possession of up to two ounces of cannabis, the cultivation of up to six plants, and the giving away of up to one ounce. Almost a decade later, the commercial market is still on hold. And while medical and gray markets have helped bridge the gap, some large local, state, and national organizations have had enough. So they wrote a letter to the Biden administration calling for action.
Advocates led by the Drug Policy Alliance signed a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland urging a non-enforcement approach that would end current legislation preventing the county from opening a legal and regulated market for adult use.
The coalition also includes the ACLU, NORML and the soap lovers at Dr. Bronner’s on. Supporters are being bolstered by winds of pro-420 advances in last week’s election and progress made by President Biden last month in directing all state governments to release nonviolent cannabis prisoners.
The letter calls for an end to the Harris driver, which was signed about a month after DC voters approved legalization through ballot measure Initiative 71 (I-71). Months after the 2014 vote, Maryland Assemblyman Andy Harris blocked commercial sales in the district with an amendment preventing the DC Council from passing comprehensive regulations for a legal cannabis industry.
The same Andy Harris fabricated racial facts to justify his active blocking of DC legalization in 2016. His stance is clear.
In the early days of the Trump administration, then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions further complicated things in 2018 by overturning the Cole memo that protected state-licensed businesses from state cannabis laws. Without the protection of the Cole Memo and with the Harris driver’s restrictions, DC regulators have their hands tied when it comes to enacting the regulations that would allow a licensed market to move forward.
The latest workaround is a medical marijuana self-certification program launched in June that allows virtually any adult to self-prescribe access to DC’s licensed and regulated medical market. Since Mayor Muriel Bowser signed the self-certification, the district’s patient count has increased by 55%. But it’s still a workaround. The Harris driver could be permanently removed from the fiscal year 2023 budget by legislation in Congress — which is less likely if Republicans take control of the House of Representatives — or by action by Merrick Garland if the coalition gets what the letter says required.
A total of 75 organizations signed the motion for a non-enforcement approach, calling for an end to the Harris Driver and related anti-deficiency law, which keeps DC as the “only jurisdiction in the country that doesn’t or doesn’t regulate the sale of marijuana.” successfully tapping into the public health and safety benefits of proper regulation,” the letter reads.
“We recognize that not everyone in Congress supports DC’s right to become a state that would safeguard the rights and freedoms of its diverse, voting, taxpaying and military serving residents. Nonetheless, we collectively call on the Department of Justice to commit to at least a non-enforcement approach for DC that includes non-enforcement of the “Harris” tab and the Anti-Deficiency Act in relation to the tab, and to allow DC its local dollars for priorities such as issue regulating marijuana, as 19 other states have already done…allowing DC to regulate cannabis would alleviate public health and safety concerns from DC’s unregulated marijuana market and encourage DC economic development and support this government to demonstrate for DC’s right to self-government.”
Letter signed by DPA and 74 other cannabis advocates
In 2020, House Democrats attempted to jumpstart DC’s market with a funding bill that was never fully approved. At the time, committee chairman Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL) said, “Americans deserve a government that invests in the long-term protection of consumers and investors, strengthens our national security, and encourages entrepreneurship here at home. . those years [Financial Services and General Government] The financial accounts are taking significant steps to achieve each of these goals.”
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