Trump Links Cannabis Decriminalization To 'Disorder' In DC, Establishes Law Enforcement Task Force

President Donald Trump signed an executive order titled "Making the District of Columbia Safe and Beautiful" on Friday.

In so doing, Trump established a task force to revitalize the nation's capital, which included a fact sheet that listed cannabis decriminalization as a failed policy that “opened the door to disorder.”

The "D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force" will comprise members from various government agencies that will “Surge law enforcement officers in public areas and strictly enforce quality-of-life laws in public areas like drug use, unpermitted demonstrations, vandalism, and public intoxication.”

To that end, per the President's order, a lengthy list of federal agencies will collaborate with "local law enforcement to facilitate the deployment of a more robust local law enforcement presence as appropriate in areas in or about" the nation’s capital.

While Trump's executive order did not specifically mention marijuana, the accompanying fact sheet did.

"D.C.'s failed policies opened the door to disorder—and criminals noticed," it says, citing "marijuana decriminalization" as well as DC's abandoning of pre-trial detention that allows "rioters run loose even if they vandalize property and assault police."

Despite D.C. voters having overwhelmingly approved cannabis legalization in 2014, the district government has consistently been prevented by a legislative rider from implementing regulated cannabis sales each time the budget comes up. Failing to remove the D.C. rider has prevented the nation’s capital from using local tax dollars to implement its legal cannabis program all these years.

The first Trump administration (and continued during both Biden terms in the White House) maintained the rider.

Still Holding Out Hope?

While there are cannabis industry members who are holding out hope that Trump will, at the very least, undertake cannabis banking reform, which he endorsed during this recent electoral campaign, linking cannabis decriminalization to disorderly and disruptive behavior is not a very encouraging signal.

Marijuana Moment cited the prohibitionist group Smart Approaches to Marijuana, which crowed loudly on the news. "Washington DC did not just decriminalize private marijuana use for adults—it's opened the door to total legalization, which can be smelled on virtually every street today."

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