Editor's Note: It's looking more and more likely that Congress will not step in to prevent the passage of Initiative 71, which D.C. voters overwhelmingly supported in the November elections. It's even looking like D.C. may take the additional step to create a regulated and taxed marijuana marketplace, as Colorado and Washington have done (and Alaska and Oregon are in the process of creating).
Yesterday, Cannabis Business Times shared an article from Forbes that reported that the District of Columbia Council's Committee on Business, Consumer, and Regulatory Affairs "approved legislation that charges D.C.’s Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration (ABRA) with licensing and regulating marijuana producers and retailers. ABRA would have six months to write the regulations, after which it would begin accepting license applications, so recreational cannabis stores could open in 2016 if the council approves final legislation by next spring and Congress does not try to stop the process."
But, only time will tell what will happen between now and when Congress actually reviews the initiative. If the Initiative gets approved by Congress, however, and a regulatory system is put in place for a legalized marijuana marketplace, the speed at which marijuana legislation will pass in other states will surely increase. With D.C. being a Federal city, it can't be underestimated what impact a legal marijuana industry in D.C. would mean for the rest of the country.
In November, Washington voted to allow marijuana possession, but that doesn't mean district denizens can light up just yet.
Imagine your state just passed a law legalizing marijuana in small amounts. If you are at least 21 years old, you can possess up to two ounces, give as much as one ounce to other adults, and grow as many as six marijuana plants at home. Because you enjoy consuming pot recreationally, you plant some cannabis seeds under a grow lamp in your living room, waiting for the high times it will bring.
Then, several weeks later, you learn that Congress has attempted to block your state from implementing the law. It has passed a “resolution of disapproval,” or maybe sneakily attached a “rider” to the following year’s appropriations bill that prevents your state from spending funds to execute said law.
Theoretically, any state’s marijuana law is under threat from the federal government; Washington state and Colorado legalized marijuana last year and have enacted an uneasy truce with the feds, who have agreed not to enforce laws for now.
