D.C. Cannabis Sales Need To Be Permitted Say Advocates In A Letter To AG Merrick Garland

Cannabis is completely legal in the nation's capital, however, due to a convoluted bicameral omnibus bill, recreational marijuana sales are still prohibited in the District.

Now, a coalition of local, state, and national advocacy organizations is calling on US Attorney General Merrick Garland to formally adopt a non-compliance policy to allow Washington, D.C. legalize cannabis sales despite the congressional ban.

Regulation Of Recreational Cannabis, Please

In a letter to AG Garland, the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) and 74 other organizations said they want the Department of Justice (DOJ) to take an approach to D.C. that is “functionally equivalent to the non-enforcement approach it has traditionally taken with respect to the states that have reformed their laws allowing for the taxation and regulation of the adult use of cannabis.”

Even after the 2014 legalization of cannabis for adults in D.C., a rider that prevents the District from fully exercising its legal cannabis program has remained valid throughout several presidential budget proposals.

This legislation should allow the District to bypass the rider that has prevented D.C. from using its local taxes to implement legal cannabis retail.

The rider and the related Anti-Deficiency Act mandating budget compliance means D.C. “is the only jurisdiction in the country that cannot regulate marijuana sales or fruitfully tap into the public health and safety benefits of proper regulation,” reads the letter, in which signatories “desperately urge” the DOJ to adopt a non-interference policy in the District, especially in light of President Biden’s recent mass pardon of simple marijuana offenses and a directive for an administrative review of the federal classification of cannabis, reported Marijuana Moment.

Public Health and Safety Concerns, Matters

“Allowing D.C. to regulate cannabis would alleviate public health and safety concerns due to the unregulated marijuana market in D.C., promote economic development in D.C., as well as demonstrate this administration’s support for D.C.’s right to home rule,” according to the letter.

“We recognize that not everyone in Congress supports D.C.’s right to become a State, which would ensure the rights and liberties of its diverse, voting, tax-paying, military-serving residents."

They collectively call for a commitment for a non-enforcement approach for D.C. that includes the non-enforcement of the ‘Harris’ rider and the Anti-Deficiency Act with respect to the rider, and permitting D.C. "to spend its local dollars on priorities such as regulating marijuana in the same way that 19 other States have already done.”

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