The District of Columbia is going ahead with voter-approved marijuana legalization. As with most things involving the District, however, it's likely going to be
quite a mess.
City leaders declared Tuesday that marijuana possession will become legal in the District at 12:01 a.m. Thursday — but warned the public that many pot-related activities will remain illegal, including selling the drug, growing it outdoors, possessing it in federally subsidized housing and smoking it anywhere in public.
The problem, as always, is that Congress considers the District to be their personal property. Self-governance is barely tolerated under the best of times, but a District decision to loosen marijuana laws is right out.
In an interview, Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) said: “Federal law, signed by the president, confirms that D.C. cannot move forward. If they are under any illusion that this would be legal, they are wrong. And there are very severe consequences for violating this provision. You can go to prison for this. We’re not playing a little game here.”
Whether Deputy Dog Chaffetz will be rounding up city officials and throwing them in the pokey remains to be seen. It is true that Congress has nothing better to do, since they're just waiting out the clock on shutting down Homeland Security for a while.
So that'll be something to watch.