Washington D.C. voters will see marijuana legalization on the ballot next month. Washington D.C. joins Oregon and Alaska, and a handful of cities in Michigan and Maine in voting on marijuana legalization during the 2014 Election. Support for marijuana legalization is strong among Washington D.C. voters, but it sounds like the Washington D.C. Council may delay implementation of the initiative if/when it passes. Per the Washington Post:
D.C. voters are likely to legalize marijuana possession in the District next month. But it could be many more months, perhaps a year or more, before residents would be able to legally purchase non-medicinal marijuana.
And in the interim, the organizers of the ballot initiative — which is supported by nearly two-thirds of likely voters, according to recent polls — are warning lawmakers not to delay its basic provisions of the voter initiative, which would allow the possession of up to two ounces of marijuana and the home cultivation of as many as six cannabis plants.
But D.C. Council members — who have the power to modify the initiative, delay it or overturn it entirely — appear determined to move forward carefully, in keeping with their previous efforts to implement a medical-marijuana initiative.
If voters approve the initiative, the D.C. Council should not stand in the way of the will of the people. People should be allowed to possess and cultivate marijuana as long as it’s within the parameters of the initiative’s limits, because after all, it’s what the voters want if/when they approve it on Election Day. I get that Congress has to sign off on any sales and taxes, which could take awhile. But the basic provisions of the initiative should be implemented right away if approved by voters. There are not too many other areas of public policy where elected officials drag their feet as much after the will of the people is expressed as marijuana policy. Why is that? Give the people what they want, this is a democracy for crying out loud!
