Poliico - Andy Harris Plans to Blunt DC Pot Effort

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By Sarah Smith

Even if D.C. residents pass a ballot initiative to legalize marijuana, Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) aims to hold it up in Congress.

"I would hope that the D.C. residents would turn down legalization," Harris said. "If they don't, I think that Congress will have an opportunity next year to comment on it, both through the normal authorization process or through appropriations if necessary."

Harris introduced an amendment attached to the appropriations bill earlier this year to block funding from the District's initiative to decriminalize marijuana and any future initiative to legalize marijuana. The appropriations amendment passed 28-21, mostly along party lines.

If necessary, he said, he'll introduce a similar amendment geared towards legalization come the fall.

The legalization initiative, approved by the D.C. Board of Elections Wednesday to go on November's ballot, would allow anyone over 21 to possess up to two ounces of marijuana, grow up to six plants and transfer pot without payment to anyone else over 21. The measure would not allow for sale.

"This is an issue that matters to us a great deal, and we're going to fight for it," Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) said, slamming her House colleagues for threatening to infringe upon the District's right to home rule.

"I've been in touch with the Senate, and it's not in the Senate bill," she added.

In July, the White House sent a broadly-worded threat to Congress which included a warning to leave D.C. alone when it came to legalization.

"The Administration strongly opposes the language in the bill preventing the District from using its own local funds to carry out locally-passed marijuana policies, which again undermines the principles of States' rights and of District home rule," it said.

Chairman of the D.C. Cannabis Coalition's campaign, Adam Eidinger, said the coalition's first priority is the initiative rather than deal with threats from the House.

"They can't stop the initiative vote from taking place, and for me that's what it's all about," he said. "What they do has less moral authority than the voters of Washington, D.C."

If the initiative passes and any member of Congress tries to overturn it, Eidinger added, "they're only going to write their own obituary for 2016."

Harris fears that the ballot measure will pass -- and the numbers back him up. Over half of Americans -- 54 percent -- support marijuana legalization, according to a report from Pew Research released on April 2. Sixty-three percent of D.C. residents support legalizing "small amounts" of the drug for personal use, according to a Washington Post poll published on Jan. 15.

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