A campaign to legalize cannabis in Washington D.C. turned in over 57,000 signatures to get their initiative on the 2014 ballot. Less than half of those signatures need to be valid in order to gain ballot approval. Unless something tremendously unexpected happens, Washington D.C. residents will likely get a chance to vote on cannabis legalization on Election Day. If that happens, according to a poll released by the Washington Post, the initiative has a great chance of passing.
The poll found that 63% of participants supported legalizing cannabis in Washington D.C.. Only 34% of participants want to keep cannabis illegal in our nation’s capital. 3% of poll participants had no opinion. Per the Washington Post:
Washingtonians of every age, race and ethnicity — teenagers and seniors, blacks and whites — registered double-digit increases in support of legalization. Overall, 63 percent are in favor.
Even among those who oppose legalization, nearly half support relaxing punishment for marijuana possession to a fine of $100 or less.
Washington D.C. will likely be joining Alaska and Oregon during the 2014 Election by placing a cannabis legalization initiative on the ballot. If that happens, all three initiatives have a great chance of passing. They would join Colorado and Washington in legalizing and regulating cannabis. Washington D.C. would be unique in that it’s not a state. I hope the federal government respects the will of Washington D.C. voters in the event that the initiative makes the ballot and passes. It seems that legalizing cannabis in our nation’s capitol hasn’t gotten the attention it deserves. While we are seeing great progress at the federal level recently, it would seem that ending marijuana prohibition where Congress and the President work, and the sky not falling, will only continue our momentum, especially with freedom fighters like Earl Blumenauer (who you can hear from at our conference in September) leading the way.
