Thor Benson / Cannabis News Box Contributor

Washington, D.C. Attorney General Karl A. Racine said recently that he supports legalizing cannabis sales in the city once Congress gets rid of budget restrictions that are currently preventing sales. Now that Democrats have taken the House, it seems likely that will happen soon.

Adam Eidinger, the founder of DCMJ, told Cannabis News Box that he believes Congress will act on this by the end of next year. He said that there has been a “180-degree change” in what can happen with cannabis policy now that Democrats have taken the House.

“There is no way around this, but DC can begin to listen to citizens before crafting legislation,” Eidinger said.

Eidinger said Racine hasn’t acted on cannabis policy and hasn’t really needed to thus far. He believes Racine will protect cannabis legalization efforts. Racine isn’t the only D.C. politician who is supporting the legalization of cannabis sales. Mayor Muriel Bowser recently said she would introduce a bill to legalize cannabis sales to the D.C. Council next year.

“We have the ability to possess marijuana but no legal way to buy marijuana. As long as we have the ability to possess marijuana, which is our law, we also need the ability to procure marijuana legally. Which we don’t have now,” Bowser said. “We will prepare a tax-and-regulate scheme to present to the council at the beginning of the next year.”

Cannabis advocates across the country are celebrating the Democrats winning back the House, as Democrats have been more friendly to legalization efforts than Republicans. Now that Democrats will have the ability to write legislation, it’s more likely cannabis will be legalized on the federal level. The biggest obstacles will be certain Republicans in the Senate and the White House.

Cannabis has been legal in Washington, D.C. for four years now, but cannabis sales have remained illegal. That’s largely because certain members of the House were blocking sales from being implemented because Congress controls much of how D.C. is able to manage itself.

Cannabis advocates have found this frustrating, and they have called for more independence for the city. Now that Congress is more in their favor, they’re pleased they can move forward with the plans they’ve been waiting to implement for years. There’s little point to having legal cannabis if no one is actually able to obtain it, though some residents have been growing their own for years now.