Pubdate: Thu, 01 May 2014
Source: Washington Times (DC)
Copyright: 2014 The Washington Times, LLC.
Contact:  http://www.washingtontimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/492
Author: Andrea Noble
Page: A12

POT HEARING PROMPTS FEARS OF CONGRESSIONAL INTERFERENCE

A House committee has scheduled a hearing for May 8 on a recently 
passed law decriminalizing marijuana in the District - a move viewed 
with suspicion by local lawmakers who fear it may signal Congress' 
first step in attempting to overturn the legislation.

Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, a Democrat and the District's 
nonvoting congressional representative, said Wednesday that she will 
testify at the hearing before the House Oversight and Government 
Reform Committee's subcommittee on government operations. A list of 
others who will testify was not available from the committee, though 
Ms. Norton said other local officials will participate.

The D.C. Council and mayor signed off on legislation this year that 
makes possession of 1 ounce or less of marijuana punishable by a 
civil fine of $25 while preserving criminal penalties for smoking pot 
in public. The legislation was transmitted to Congress on April 8 and 
is currently under a period of congressional review, a standard for 
most locally enacted laws.

Members of Congress could potentially derail the law by filing a 
disapproval resolution, though the difficult task would require 
approval in the House and Senate and the signature of the president. 
If no action is taken to otherwise block the law, it is expected to 
take effect on July 18.

But as Congress has a history of interjecting itself into local 
affairs in matters related to marijuana - a congressional rider 
postponed implementation of the city's medical marijuana program for 
more than a decade - officials are skeptical of the motives.

"The hearing on D.C.'s decriminalization legislation is a unique and 
inappropriate overreach by Congress, targeting the marijuana laws of 
only one jurisdiction in a hearing before a national legislature," 
Ms. Norton said in a statement. "We will insist on our rights as a 
local jurisdiction to be treated in the same way as the 18 states 
that have decriminalized marijuana and the two that have legalized marijuana."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom