Washington, D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton is calling for Congress to remove a rider that is blocking the city from using local funds to commercialize cannabis. She wrote for The Hill that D.C. Council is working towards legalizing and regulating the sale of social use cannabis.

“Despite widespread support for ending the local war on marijuana and the urgent calls to explore what equity and justice looks like post-legalization, the District has continually been blocked from taking any measures to move forward with regulating adult use marijuana,” Norton wrote.

“This block is due to a congressional appropriations rider, which prohibits the District from using its local funds to tax or regulate adult use marijuana sales. Every year since I-71 was passed, Congress has included this rider, known as the Harris rider, which has halted the true public health and justice reform benefits promised by the campaign.”

Adam Eidinger, co-founder of DCMJ, told Cannabis News Box that this rider was created by Republican Rep. Andy Harris in 2014. He said it was created simply because Harris is against legalization, despite the fact the vast majority of D.C. residents want cannabis sales to be legalized. He explained what removing the rider would do.

“It would allow DC to write its own laws regarding Schedule I drugs,” Eidinger said. “Currently it may not do so due to the rider. The rider prevents spending to lessen penalties for Schedule 1 drugs.”

D.C. has had medical cannabis since 2013, he noted, and he said police have stopped arresting people for public cannabis use in the city. Doing so will now get you a $25 fine. Eidinger said the Harris rider is now out of the House and Senate budget bills.

“If they ever pass a budget, we will be able to craft new laws soon after in the DC Council or through a ballot initiative,” Eidinger said.

Many legalization advocates support making Washington, D.C. a state because then it would be able to govern itself rather than it being governed by Congress. The vast majority of D.C. residents support making D.C. a state. Efforts to make this happen are currently not making much progress in Congress, but many members of Congress are still pushing for it. Republicans oppose D.C. statehood because they think it would give the
Democratic Party two more senators.