It's official. Voters in the District of Columbia have voted (for: 64.62% of the vote with 96,113 votes; against: 28.43% of the vote with 42,280 votes) overwhelmingly to pass Ballot Initiative 71, which legalizes possession of up to 2 ounces of marijuana for personal use (among adults ages 21 and over), as well as the ability to grow up to six marijuana plants (3 mature/flowering). The initiative also legalizes the “gifting” of marijuana from one adult to another (but not the sale of marijuana), and permits the use or sale of drug paraphernalia for marijuana possession, consumption or growth.
“This is not only a big step forward for our nation’s capital, but for our entire nation," says Mason Tvert, communications director for the Marijuana Policy Project, which has been behind many legislative initiatives to reform marijuana law. "Like most Americans, most District voters are fed up with laws that punish adults for using a substance that is less harmful than alcohol. We are working with the D.C. Council to establish a system in which marijuana is regulated and taxed similarly to alcohol. Passage of this initiative strengthens the case in support of creating a legal marijuana market for adults that will control sales, create jobs, and generate significant new tax revenue for the District.”
Formally known as “Legalization of Possession of Minimal Amounts of Marijuana for Personal Use Act of 2014,” the initiative’s specific regulations can be found here.
Another keystone election for the marijuana industry (with Oregon’s vote to legalize recreational marijuana being considered the most important to the momentum of the legalized marijuana industry), the impact of the vote in D.C. is significant.
With the nation’s capital legalizing recreational use and possession of marijuana, the Federal Government will have to step up … or step down, so to speak. The fear (shared by many in the industry) is that Congress will enact a “home rule” preventing Initiative 71 from taking effect. (Via home rule, Congress can exert its jurisdiction over the district on anything and everything.) This seems very likely, considering the Federal Government has not yet removed marijuana from the list of Schedule 1 drugs, classifying it among other drugs such as heroin and LSD–"drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.”
The forward momentum gained by the voters in D.C. passing this initiative, however, will not be lost, even if Congress steps in.
And, some believe in the possibility that, as Tim Hermes, publisher of Cannabis Business Times, put it, “Congress may not want to have a dog in this fight.”
As Hermes wrote, “The GOPers can point to their own leading city of the free world ‘going down the drain like the rest of the country with this whole ‘legal pot thing,'” and use it as a tool in their own re-election campaigns. They may want to sit aside and see which way the wind is blowing from a federal level, too. Or they can take the Rand Paul approach and say that state’s rights trump federal regulation, and free enterprise shouldn’t be stepped on, especially if a constituency has voted in favor of it.”
Senator Rand Paul, who has spoken out against the Federal government interfering in state's rights, also commented Tuesday, from outside his polling place in Kentucky, on the situation in D.C. "I’m not for having the federal government get involved. I really haven’t taken a stand on … the actual legalization. I haven’t really taken a stand on that, but I’m against the federal government telling them they can’t,” Paul said.
Interestingly, the D.C. Council met just days before the election to discuss potentially regulating the legalized marijuana market as Colorado and Washington State have done. In that meeting, a rough estimate of the D.C. marijuana industry’s worth was set at $130 million.
Many industry constituents hope that the potential revenue will speak to legislators, as will the desire to uphold the rights and wishes of the residents of D.C.
Still, whatever happens with Congress, the passage of Initiative 71 is a win for marijuana advocates everywhere.
