It’s official! Congressional review period expires and D.C. medical marijuana law takes effect

Last update: July 27, 2010

District of Columbia joins 14 states in making marijuana available to the seriously ill.

Eleven long years after nearly 70% of D.C. residents voted to allow seriously ill District residents to have safe, legal access to medical marijuana, legislation to amend and implement the initiative has finally become effective. D.C.’s congressional delegate, Eleanor Homes Norton, announced on July 27 that the 30-legislative-day Congressional review period mandatory for all DC legislation expired with Congress taking no action to block the “Legalization of Marijuana for Medical Treatment Initiative Amendment Act of 2010,” meaning the law is now in effect. Our nation’s capital joins a growing list of 14 other states in recognizing the medical efficacy of marijuana and protecting those patients who use it from arrest.

Believe it or not, there’s still lots of work to do. As of this moment, it’s still illegal for anyone, including patients, to possess or use marijuana in the District, even if they have a doctor’s recommendation. That’s because under the new law, the only marijuana that can be possessed legally is marijuana purchased from a D.C. dispensary, and of course, there are none yet. Which brings us to the next step. The action now shifts from the Council to the Health Department, which must now develop rules and regulations to govern the program. MPP and its allies will be lobbying the mayor’s office and the D.C. Department of Health to ensure these regulations are appropriate and address shortcomings in the legislation. For instance, as it stands now, patients can only legally purchase or possess 2 ounces of marijuana, but the mayor has the ability to raise that figure to 4 ounces. Other areas in which we hope to have influence include:

• Lobbying the Health Department to authorize a comprehensive, science-based list of qualifying medical conditions, including adding severe, chronic pain, Crohn’s disease, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other serious conditions for which marijuana has a demonstrated utility.
• Assisting with the development of rules and regulations that focus on access, safety, and affordability.
• Ensuring a sufficient number of cultivation centers are licensed in order for supply to meet patient demand.
• Working with the zoning board to ensure dispensaries are located in areas accessible to patients.
• Working with advisory committees to develop responsible plans for patient cultivation.

It’s worth mentioning again: even if you are a patient with a qualifying medical condition you are not yet legally protected for use or possession of marijuana and will not be until such time as you can register with the Health Department and purchase marijuana from a registered dispensary. However, in the meantime, if you’d like to share your story and see how you can help us in implementing a compassionate and responsible program in the District, you can e-mail our legislative analyst for D.C. at driffle@mpp.org. You can also subscribe to our e-mail alerts to stay up to date on all the latest news on medical marijuana in D.C.

Congratulations to the voters who approved Initiative 59 and the patients who will soon be able to access their medicine safely and without fear of arrest. Thank you for all your support for MPP, and don’t forget to subscribe to our free e-mail alerts to stay up to date on all the latest developments.

D.C. Marijuana Laws (non-medical)

Did you know that Washington, D.C., has the highest arrest rate in the country for marijuana-related crimes? Perhaps most shocking of all is the racial disparity in enforcement — the arrest rate for blacks in D.C. is over eight times that of whites! Possession of any amount of marijuana — even as little as a single gram — is punishable by up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $1,000. Despite tough laws and even tougher enforcement, the use rate for marijuana in D.C. is the third highest in the country, and it’s growing — suggesting marijuana prohibition has been more effective in destroying families and widening racial divides than in preventing marijuana use.

Perhaps nowhere else in America is the complete and utter failure of the so-called war on drugs, and marijuana users in particular, more evident than here in D.C. It’s time for a new approach. Write your elected officials and urge them to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana. That means keeping criminal penalties in place for trafficking or driving under the influence, but making simple possession of marijuana a civil, rather than criminal, offense, subject to a fine without the possibility of jail time. This type of reform has been gaining momentum around the country and was approved by 65% of Massachusetts’ voters in 2008.

For more on the negative consequences of the District’s harsh marijuana laws, including arrest and enforcement trends, check out this excellent report from John Gettman, Ph.D.

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