Pubdate: Thu, 06 Nov 2014
Source: News-Item, The (PA)
Copyright: 2014 Associated Press
Contact:  http://www.newsitem.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3556
Author: Ben Nuckols, Associated Press
Page: 3

GOP CONGRESS TO WEIGH 'LEGAL POT'

WASHINGTON (AP) - The national marijuana legalization debate ismoving 
into the backyard of a Republican-controlled Congress, now that the 
District of Columbia has voted to legalize growing, possessing and 
sharing small amounts of pot.

Voters in Oregon and Alaska also approved legalization initiatives, 
joining Colorado and Washington state, where pot is already legally available.

But while states out West enjoy both autonomy and distance, federal 
lawmakers have the power to quash any District law they don't like. 
And with legalization getting a foothold on the East Coast for the 
first time, the District's initiative could force Congress to make 
decisions affecting the future of legal pot nationwide.

"Members of Congress are literally going to be witness to these 
changes," said Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy 
Alliance, which spent heavily to push all three ballot initiatives. 
"It's a form of educating the members of Congress in a way that some 
members would not get educated, depending on the states that they're from."

All laws in the nation's capital are sent to Capitol Hill for review. 
Congress rarely invokes that power, but when members do want to block 
District policies, they can attach amendments to unrelated, omnibus 
legislation too critical to be vetoed. Congress routinely bars the 
spending of local tax dollars on abortions for poor women using this 
strategy, and delayed medical marijuana in the District for more than a decade.

The District voted 69-31 percent Tuesday to approve the growing, 
possessing or sharing of up to two ounces of pot and up to three 
mature marijuana plants for personal use. Months earlier, a 
decriminalization law took effect, limiting the penalty for 
possession of a personal-use amount to a $25 ticket.

But it could take months at least before pot-smoking is totally OK in 
the District. Elected officials and advocates can't even agree 
whether the Congressional review period lasts 30 days while the House 
and Senate are both in session, or 60.

Also, the initiative doesn't provide for the legal sale or taxation 
of marijuana.

Democratic mayor-elect Muriel Bowser said Wednesday that she won't 
let it take effect until the D.C. Council implements rules that she 
said could be "similar to how we tax and regulate alcohol."

D.C. Cannabis Campaign chairman Adam Eidinger vowed to challenge any 
delay, which he said could thwart the will of the voters for years. 
Colorado allowed home cultivation for more than a year before its 
first marijuana dispensaries opened, he noted.

"Three plants or less doesn't need to be taxed and regulated," he 
said. "They don't regulate people who brew their own beer."

The incoming mayor has no immediate power over the initiative but 
once she takes office in January she could introduce a bill that 
delays implementation until a regulatory scheme is enacted.

Rep. Andy Harris, a Maryland Republican, tried to block the 
decriminalization law, and said Wednesday that he'll try to block 
legalization as well, arguing that drug use among teenagers will rise 
if they fail to stop it.

But polls have shown a majority of Americans favor legalization, and 
Republicans are far from united in opposition.

Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, the ranking Republican on the 
subcommittee that oversees the District, said Tuesday that the city's 
pot laws should be left to local officials. Paul also has sought to 
block the federal government from interfering with states' medical 
marijuana programs.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom