The Republican-controlled U.S. House Appropriations Committee approved an amendment Wednesday that is designed to prevent implementation of the
District of Columbia decriminalization law that was approved earlier this year. The measure, introduced by Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD), blocks funding of the new law, which eliminates jail time as a punishment for marijuana possession and establishes a $25 civil fine for first-time offenders. The amendment must now be approved by the full House, and MPP is working to get the measure killed. If it is approved, it would take effect in October.
D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray told the
Washington Post that the District will implement the law regardless of Congress’s action, even though its authority to enforce it beyond October remains questionable. Gray’s office also warned that the amendment might force the city to shut down the medical marijuana program that was finally implemented last year after being held up by Congress for more than a decade.
MPP issued
a release with the following statement from Federal Policies Director Dan Riffle:
“The District of Columbia wisely decided to use stop wasting its own resources enforcing ineffective and racially biased laws and to allow those with serious illnesses whose doctors recommend it to use medical marijuana. Unfortunately, unlike every state in America that gets to determine its own laws, Washington, D.C. laws are reviewed by Congress where Washington, D.C. residents have no voting representatives.
“Marijuana is significantly less harmful than alcohol, and polls clearly show most Americans want to see it treated that way. We’ll do everything we can to restore democracy in D.C. and ensure this regressive amendment is rejected when it is considered by the full House. Mr. Harris’s antiquated, unscientific views on marijuana should be his constituents’ problem, not the District of Columbia’s.”