Pubdate: Thu, 06 Nov 2014
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Copyright: 2014 The Washington Post Company
Contact: http://mapinc.org/url/mUgeOPdZ
Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/491
Author: Aaron C. Davis
Page: B4

POT LAW STILL FACES THE HURDLE OF GOP CONGRESS

Celebration quickly gave way to uncertainty on Wednesday for 
supporters of a voter-approved initiative to legalize marijuana in 
the District, with the reality sinking in that when the measure 
reaches Capitol Hill for review, the party least likely to support it 
will be in charge.

One conservative House Republican from neighboring Maryland 
immediately vowed to use all of his power to upend Initiative 71, 
which would allow D.C. residents and visitors to have up to 2 ounces 
of marijuana for personal use and would allow home cultivation of up 
to three plants.

But advocates for the initiative took refuge in the Election Day 
comments of Sen. Rand Paul (R), who suggested outside a Kentucky 
polling precinct that he considers the matter one for D.C. voters, 
who ended up backing it by an overwhelming margin of more than 2 to 
1: "I haven't really taken a stand on [Initiative 71], but I'm 
against the federal government telling them they can't," Paul told reporters.

And on Wednesday, another potential pitfall emerged when Muriel E. 
Bowser suggested in her first press conference as D.C. mayor-elect 
that she would not want Initiative 71 to proceed to congressional 
review without accompanying legislation to establish a system for 
selling and taxing the plant like in Colorado and Washington state.

The conflicting signs hinted at how uncertain implementation of the 
city's marijuana initiative remains, given the District's layer of 
federal oversight. The situation in the District stands in stark 
contrast to the two states where sales are now legal, and in Oregon 
and Alaska, where initiatives that passed Tuesday spell out how sales 
will begin, perhaps as soon as early 2016.

D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier said she respects "the clear intent 
of District voters" in their support of Initiative 71. "However, we 
need to recognize that the initiative cannot be immediately 
implemented," she said in a prepared statement.

"I think everyone realizes that the Council will need to enact 
legislation to provide clarity to the public and law enforcement 
officers," Lanier said. "If the initiative is held up in Congress, 
attorneys for the District will need to provide additional guidance."

In a national teleconference with reporters on Wednesday, advocates 
for marijuana legalization sought to play down concerns that Congress 
would spend the energy to overturn the District's measure, especially 
right after Republicans gain control of Congress.

In recent years, nearly 50 House Republicans also have sided with 
Democrats to give states more protections to carry on medical 
marijuana programs.

Advocates acknowledged that the D.C. measure could hasten the arrival 
of a national debate over marijuana legalization before a critical 
mass of states have tilted in favor. The drug has gained greater 
acceptance nationwide, and the country was closely divided at 49 
percent in favor and 48 percent opposed earlier this year, according 
to a Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, said 
conservatives are the least likely to support marijuana legalization, 
but he said any debate would be a good thing for advocates' ultimate 
goal of nationwide legalization.

To nullify the measure, Congress would have to take the extraordinary 
step of getting both chambers and the president to agree on a 
resolution of disapproval within 60 days.

That has happened only three times in 40 years. But there are far 
easier ways for one or more dedicated opponents to tie up a D.C. law 
in smaller, annual increments that can still add up to lengthy 
delays. Such was the case after D.C. voters approved sales of medical 
marijuana in 1998. Republican House members attached provisions to 
federal spending bills to keep it from taking effect for 11 years.

On Wednesday, Rep. Andy Harris, a Republican who represents 
Maryland's Eastern Shore, said he would employ similar tactics to 
block the D.C. measure.

Harris said federal drug laws that still consider marijuana 
possession a crime punishable by up to a year in jail should be 
enforced in the federal district. A doctor by training, Harris 
blasted the vote as detrimental to adolescents.

"Actions by those in D.C. will result in higher drug use among 
teens," Harris said in a written statement to The Washington Post. "I 
will consider using all resources available to a member of Congress 
to stop this action."

This summer, Harris persuaded the House Appropriations Committee to 
back such a rider that would have upended the District's decision to 
decriminalize marijuana. The D.C. Council voted in March to strip 
away criminal penalties and the threat of jail time for possession, 
citing studies that showed deep racial disparity in drug arrests for 
marijuana in the nation's capital. The rider was backed by House 
Republicans but died in negotiations with Senate Democrats after 
President Obama threatened to veto the provision.

On the Senate side, where Republicans gained control, Paul is in line 
to chair a key committee with broad oversight power of the District. 
He has pushed for restructuring drug laws to make possession of 
marijuana and other substances a misdemeanor, not a felony.

He also has indicated he might be more interested in tinkering with 
other District affairs. Paul recently introduced a measure that would 
have made gun-control laws in the city among the most lenient in the country.

But Bowser's comments indicating that she might seek a full 
regulatory framework for selling and taxing marijuana before the 
initiative is reviewed by Congress could change Paul's thinking, his 
spokesman Brian Darling said.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom